Stem Education In Southwestern Illinois

By ALAN J. ORTBALS    Four years ago, a collaborative effort called the Manufacture Your Future/Craft Your Future campaign was launched and coordinated by the Leadership Council Southwestern Illinois along with its regional strategic partners, such as Southern Illinois Builders Association, designed to connect employers with students, teachers, parents and guidance counselors and other influencers to…

By ALAN J. ORTBALS    The impact of the Baby Boom generation continues to rumble through American society. Richard Mark, chairman and president of Ameren Illinois, indicates that roughly 40 percent of his nearly 3,000 workers will be eligible for retirement over the next five years. And that’s on the heels of more than 500 associates…

By ALAN J. ORTBALS    The Great Recession hit the carpenters union hard, according to Al Bond, Jr., executive secretary-treasurer of the St. Louis-Kansas City Carpenters Regional Council headquartered in St. Louis.    “We were in a recession for about seven years,” Bond said. “Construction is one of the first things to get hit when the economy…

By ALAN J. ORTBALS    The Center for STEM Research, Education and Outreach at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville provides educational opportunities to engage students, teachers and parents in STEM. This spring, it is hosting two regional events that will bring hundreds of students from several states to the University to participate in STEM and present their…

By ALAN J. ORTBALS    The Southern Illinois Builders Association is working a multi-pronged strategy to attract young people to the construction industry where science, technology, engineering and math are its building blocks.    Each October, SIBA holds its Career Expo, which offers middle and high school students from schools across Southwestern Illinois the opportunity to get…

By ALAN J. ORTBALS    The Madison County Regional Office of Education holds a weeklong STEM camp every summer for second- through sixth-graders and the number of participants keeps growing.    There were 90 students enrolled in the 2017 camp. That number jumped to more than 100 last year and there were another 36 on the waiting…