Iowa BIG North named STEM BEST Partner by governor

By Kate Hayden, khayden@charlescitypress.com

Iowa BIG North’s partnership between four local school districts is one of 19 newly named STEM BEST Partnerships in Iowa — and the grant money that accompanies the title will help expand Iowa BIG North to students in two more districts this year.

STEM BEST Partnerships were founded in 2014 by the Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council, which is co-chaired by Gov. Kim Reynolds.

The name STEM BEST is a combination of two acronyms: STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), and BEST (Businesses Engaging Students and Teachers),

Charles City, Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock, Osage and New Hampton learned late last week that the cross-district program was chosen for the partnership, Charles City Superintendent Dan Cox said Monday. Iowa BIG North was one of 31 proposals submitted to the advisory council in early September.

“We are excited and thankful for the opportunity to expand what we think is a pretty positive academic program for students here in northern Iowa,” Cox said.

An exact figure wasn’t released, but Iowa BIG North expects to receive $20,000-25,000 in grant funds to help equip the school districts with new technology for students teleconferencing with other district students or business partners.

The funds will also help Iowa BIG North bring the Riceville and Turkey Valley school districts into operation for the spring semester, Cox said.

“With our partners, we’ve found that we need to continue to grow the way we communicate off-site,” New Hampton High School Principal Sarah Updegraff said. “Using technology for cross-lines communication is going to be vital as we continue to grow the programming.”

“We’re trying to join the business world with the way they communicate globally,” Charles City instructor Donna Forsyth said. “We investigated with some of our current partners, and we want to incorporate some of the same things they use.”

The grant funds will help install a Polycom conferencing phone system within the partnering high schools, so Iowa BIG North students can conference with cross-district students and business partners as they work on initiatives.

“Our kids need to learn how to communicate outside of our setting, so as they move past us they’re going to have those skills for a larger scale communication,” Updegraff said.

Iowa BIG North will also set aside $2,500 to aid in introducing two more school districts to the partnership in the 2018-2019 school year.

“I think we’re looking to grow our own district’s enrollment in the program, but we’re also looking to go across some more district lines,” Updegraff said. “With Riceville and Turkey Valley, they would work with the same business partners we would, because it’s the same business network in north Iowa.”

This is the second STEM BEST grant received by the four Iowa BIG North school districts. The schools received the first grant in June 2015, which helped schools research and ultimately launch Iowa BIG North in the 2016-2017 school year.

New Hampton senior Hunter Carey, a student working on the Small Town Struggles IBN initiative, said the grant will smooth the lines of communication in larger group projects.

“It’s really hard to share information or even look at the entire group” with existing conferencing, Carey said. “Being able to talk to all of them at once will really help us get our stuff done.”

“As students, we’re really thankful that we received the extension for the grant, because it’s going to be a huge part of our success,” Charles City senior Theo Arndt added.

In Monday’s announcement, Gov. Reynolds said the STEM BEST program would help the state reach the Future Ready Iowa goal of 70 percent of Iowa’s work force having education or training beyond high school by 2025.

“Through STEM BEST, educators and business leaders work together with students to strengthen Iowa’s talent pipeline and close the skills gap,” Reynolds said in a statement on Monday.