For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology - Our vision for education affects a broad swath of the Southern Illinois landscape by providing learning opportunities to elementary, junior high, and high school students across the region. We currently provide learning opportunities and for elementary students through school year training in conjunction with St. Mary’s, Summersville, an
d Field grade schools while also seeding FLL teams . Our partnership with 4H and U of I yielded two camp opportunities for Junior High students. Our current team of 35 high school students are trained to become the best fabricators, machinists, or leaders they can be. Learning becomes truly powerful when tested under the crucible of competition. We host a sumo-bot competition with our elementary students, coach FLL competitors with our Junior High students, and hope to travel to two regional competitions . With every failed robot part, scrambled piece of code, or design challenge, our students become more and more invested in themselves and their future in STEM with each victory. The end results of the education and competition finally yield opportunity. In partnership with MVTHS and the Area Vocational Center our students have the opportunity for internships at local industries such as National Railway Equipment and Continental Tire. Furthermore, Continental has developed an internship program for maintenance techs and engineers that recruits exclusively from our program.
