MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. -- More than 50 students from Wichita-area middle schools visited the base as a part of a science, technology, engineering and mathematics education event March 29.
The program was designed to improve awareness about careers that make up the STEM field. The visit allowed students to see how the Air Force integrates these specialties into the mission set. The focus for this year’s event was women in STEM career fields.
"We wanted to highlight that STEM jobs are open to everyone, including women,” said, Maj. Chrystina Jones, STEM event coordinator. “We need a lot of talent in STEM fields to keep our nation competitive, so exposing students to the wide variety of jobs in STEM-related fields was important to us.”
Students interacted with Airmen from a variety of career fields from around base, including emergency management, aircrew and air traffic controllers.
“We really wanted our kids to see the wide variety of jobs that they could get into by doing well in their classes that involve STEM fields,” said Tony Emond, Marshall Middle School leadership development instructor. “This was a great event for our students, and I know they had a blast.”
Attending events like this educates students about the variety of opportunities that are available once they graduate.
“I went to school in the area, so being able to talk to students who sit where I did and talk to them about how successful they can be by getting into STEM fields was really important to me,” Jones said. “It was important to me to remind them that these fields are easily obtainable, you just have to put the work in at school to get there.”