by Raven Ponder
Three University of West Georgia students were recently offered internships in the SECME program. SECME, short for Southeastern Consortium for Minorities in Engineering, is a program dedicated to increasing historically underrepresented and under-served students who are preparing to enter and complete post-secondary studies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The goal is to create a diverse and globally competitive workforce.
"This is a fantastic opportunity for our STEM Education majors to interact with P-12 teachers and administrators and also with state and government officials interested in STEM education,” says Dr. Dianne Hoff, dean of the College of Education. “I am very proud of them, and I know they will be terrific interns!"
The selected students, Brittany Banzhof, biology major; Stefanie Song and Jessica Faisst, mathematics majors, are a part of UWG’s UTeach Program, a teacher preparation program for students majoring in science and mathematics. UWG is one of three institutions in the state selected to replicate the UTeach model.
Throughout the month of June, the students will participate in the 38th Annual SECME Summer Institute comprised of the premier K-12 STEM focused professional development, STEM Diversity Pipeline Summit and the SECME National Student Competition Finals.
SECME was created to address two main issues—the declining engineering enrollments or campuses across the U.S. and the growing evidence of shortfalls in STEM talent to sustain an economy and global leadership position, increasingly dependent on technology and innovation as primary engines of growth.
The SECME Summer Institute Professional Development Experience is an eight-day institute.
