Royce Stephens Contributor -Despite the United States Department of Education stated plans to ensure that all youth have access to adequate STEM education regardless of their zip code, STEM deserts still exist in urban and rural communities across the United States.
STEM deserts are care communities that fail to provide students with higher level math and science courses. These communities tend to be in urban and rural communities more often than not.
The McKenzie Patrice Croom Water Lab looks to help satisfy the need for STEM savvy youth within urban settings. The community water lab will be situated on the northside of Flint, MI inside of the Flint Development Center at 4121 Martin Luther King Ave.
It is the result of efforts from the Flint Development Center and Fresh Water Future to help restore the trust of Flint residents following the Flint Water Crisis. The lab will allow community members to have their drinking water tested by a neutral third-party source when it opens this spring.
The labs grand opening is slated for 1 pm March 25, 2020.
A 2017 report stated that by this year nearly two thirds of jobs would require post-secondary education and a capacity to think analytically. These are skills that are normally taught in math and science courses. They also predicted that the job market would be filled with jobs that require at least a basic understanding of science and technology.
Unfortunately, this will eliminate many youths from communities such as Flint. All too often youth in urban communities are not granted access to the higher-level math and science classes needed to prepare them for STEM based career opportunities.
Without proper preparation in high school chances of success in these courses on the college level decline. Urban students find themselves playing catch up once they hit college campuses because they are ill-prepared to compete academically.
This lack of preparation in high school eventually inhibits them access to STEM careers. These are careers that typically pay livable wage with the potential to close the economic gap.
This is where the McKenzie Patrice Croom Water Lab comes into play. Ironically, a water testing lab in a city known for its tainted water aims to help end the local STEM desert and serve as an example for other STEM deserts.
When it opens local youth will work alongside a chemist and a lab technician. This will put youth in direct proximity of individuals working in STEM careers. These youth will be exposed to career pathways they normally would not learn about in their schools.
In the lab, water testing will be much more than dipping test strips in water and waiting for the color to change. The lab will be equipped with a micro-spectrophotometer. The micro-spectrophotometer has the ability to break water down to the molecule level for analysis. Because of this technology students will be granted opportunities to apply knowledge they picked up in class. In doing so hopefully it will pave the way for local youth to start careers in STEM.