The STEM Outreach Center at New Mexico State University recently opened its new Technology Engineering Experiential Network, or TEEN, Center in the Ed and Harold Foreman Engineering Complex, and its already a popular spot for elementary, middle and high school students during their visits to the university.
Funding for the center came from the New Mexico Public Education Department, which offers funding for teen centers across New Mexico. The STEM Outreach Center worked with the New Mexico Out-of-School Time Network to learn more about the benefits that these centers bring to youths, and to assess and support their vision for the future.
“We’re able to serve students in pre-K through 12th grade,” said Sara Morales, associate director of the STEM Outreach Center. “The students are able to participate in different activities such as coding and robotics to help them further their skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.”
According to the New Mexico Out-of-School Time Network, nearly 80% of future careers will require some STEM skills. Creating a stimulating STEM education fosters basic analytical, problem-solving and critical thinking skills central to academic achievement and workforce readiness.
This spring, students from Desert View Elementary School in Sunland Park, New Mexico, stopped by the center for a quick robotics activity using small motorized talking robots.
“I really like the robots,” said student Angel Lujan. “They’re fun to play with my friends.”
Lujan said he was already familiar with the STEM Outreach Center; he’s enrolled in the center’s LEGO Robotics after-school program at Desert View.
“My dream is to get to play soccer one day, but I’m thinking about a career in engineering or robotics,” Lujan said. “It’s a lot of fun.”
The center’s field trip schedule for the 2024-2025 school year is filled, but requests for the 2025-2026 school year may be made beginning in July. For more information, visit https://stemcenter.nmsu.edu/fieldtrips/index.html.
-30-
PHOTO CAPTION: Alma Boothe, coordinator for the New Mexico State University STEM Outreach Center, explains to a group of Desert View Elementary School students how to operate their robots during a recent field trip to the new Technology Engineering Experiential Network Center on the NMSU campus. (NMSU photo by Josh Bachman)
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Woman holding a small blue robotic toy in one hand and a computer pad in the other hand.
PHOTO CAPTION: Noemi Santillan, a student at Desert View Elementary School, smiles as she learns how to program a robot during a recent field trip to the new Technology Engineering Experiential Network Center, located on the New Mexico State University campus in Las Cruces. (NMSU photo by Josh Bachman)
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A girl wearing glasses holding a computer pad while smiling.