#STEMSpotlight: South Metro-Salem STEM Partnership

What is the name of your organization (hub)? South Metro-Salem STEM Partnership

‍Which region do you serve? How would you describe it? South Metro-Salem. Bean-shaped region partnering with K-12 school districts and communities ranging from the southern suburbs of Portland through the areas surrounding and including Salem.

‍Briefly describe a few of your Hub’s current initiatives. SMSP works across three core strategy areas: 1) Connecting students and educators to industry professionals. Feature project: Oregon Connections. 2) Connecting educators to one another. Feature project: STEM Leadership Teams 3) Connecting students to post-secondary opportunities. Feature project: Accelerated Credit Workgroup

‍How can Technology Association of Oregon and its members support your work? One of our key strategies that began in SMSP and is now available throughout the state is the Oregon Connections platform, our white label version of a nation tool (Nepris) that connects classrooms virtually with industry expertise to address the inspiration gap that persists for students of underserved and underrepresented background in STEM. Nationally, 125,000 teachers engage with more than 50,000 industry employees across all sectors and fields. We seek partnership and collaboration with STEM companies and STEM professionals in a variety of capacities- employee engagement with teachers through Oregon Connections, sponsorship of the platform to support teacher usage, and advocacy for this kind of career-connected learning in your spheres of influence. Anyone interested in supporting or volunteering with Oregon Connections is encouraged to contact our team at support@oregonconnections.org.