Charleston STEMfest set for Feb. 7

By Kate Berrio | This Saturday, Feb. 7, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Brittlebank Park in Charleston, people from all over the Lowcountry will gather for a “celebration of science, technology, engineering and math” at the second annual Charleston STEM Fest.

Google’s Kate Berrio

And, now more than ever — that’s exactly what we need to be celebrating. The opportunities for learning, career, innovation and advancement have never been more exciting– and are right here in our own backyard.

Consider these numbers from the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce:

• High-tech advances are bringing good paying jobs back to South Carolina. 48% of job announcements in 2014 were in the manufacturing industry.
• Online job advertisements for STEM-related jobs increased by 806 from December 2013 to December 2014.
• Only 20 percent of all degrees conferred in South Carolina during 2013 are in STEM-related fields of study.

It’s clear, we must do more to get young people interested in the STEM fields because that’s where the jobs of tomorrow will be. At the STEM Festival, children, teens, families and teachers will get to meet and interact with area STEM industry professionals. Come with your questions and curiosity! And as always, there will be live performances, hands-on activities, interactive demos and all sorts of fun for the whole family.

A huge congrats to The Citadel and the Lowcountry STEM Collaborative, both of which won funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to launch the festival. Charleston is just one of 12 communities selected to do something like this. What’s more: The STEM Festival is just part of a series of STEM events that are happening across the Lowcountry over the next few weeks:

• DiscoverE Week at The Citadel
• Trident Technical College’s Family Science Night
• The SC Department of Natural Resources Marine Tour
• STEM Day at Patriot’s Point
• Lady Cougar STEM Event at the College of Charleston

Google’s CS First team will be there on Saturday, demonstrating fun projects in computer science (CS) and ready to get a new generation of coders engaged in CS! We hope to see you there.

Kate Berrio is program manager at Google for CS First, a free enrichment program in computer science for 4^th to 8th graders. For more information, please visit http://cs-first.com. Follow her on Twitter: @berrioka. Join CS First on Google+.