Cenla nonprofit to help expand STEM education

A local nonprofit has joined ranks with a national network to help bring 100,000 new science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) teachers into schools by 2021.

The Orchard Foundation was selected as one of 49 new partner organizations accepted into the "100Kin10" network in February. It includes more than 280 of the country’s top businesses, nonprofits, foundations and academic institutions working toward the same goal, according to a release.

"In math and science, we hear daily from our districts (that) they are severely lacking highly trained teachers," said Marjorie Taylor, executive director of Orchard. "Many of the classes are using full-time subs, which is a travesty for the children in those classrooms."

So any additional resources or opportunities help, as state and national job forecasts call for heavy growth in STEM-related fields, she said. That's where the network comes in.

100Kin10 partners have access to exclusive research, learning, innovation and funding opportunities, according to a release, and collaboration among partners is encouraged. Partnering with groups in rural areas like Central Louisiana could make applicants more competitive for grants. Being part of the network also means advance notification of grant opportunities, Taylor said.

Orchard is one of only two network members from Louisiana, along with Xavier University. Other notable members include Girls Who Code, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Penn State University, Carnegie Science Center, The Broad Institute of Harvard & MIT, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

One reason Orchard was selected to be part of the network was its ability to meet specific needs of the area.

"The review panel specifically called out your deep reach into the state of Louisiana and ability to tailor your programs to the needs of your community," 100Kin10 Executive Director Talia Milgrom-Elcott wrote. "You display the ambition and commitment necessary to make our goal a reality.”

Taylor said many organizations like higher education institutions are limited in how they can change or tailor curriculum and especially in how quickly that can be done. So Orchard is able to step in and fill that gap when needed.

"If there is a need, we can immediately respond," Taylor said.

The Orchard Foundation is a local education fund established by The Rapides Foundation. Orchard works with school districts, businesses and communities to improve educational opportunities in Central Louisiana. Orchard receives funding from The Rapides Foundation to administer many of the programs developed under its Education Initiative, according to a news release.

“The Rapides Foundation’s Education Initiative recognizes the importance of STEM and Career and Technical Education (CTE) in preparing 21st century learners for global competitiveness,” said Joe Rosier, president and CEO of The Rapides Foundation and chairman of Orchard’s board of directors. “We are honored that 100Kin10 shares our mission and accepted us as a partner.”

Taylor joined other new partners at an "unconference" in March. It was an opportunity to meet other partners and better understand the goals of the network as well as the many challenges facing STEM education.

The members came up with a list of major issues in STEM education to frame conversations. Sessions focused on challenges like recruiting and retaining teachers, especially minorities, in STEM fields as well getting the community engaged with working with schools. Regarding community engagement, Taylor heard from groups like the Smithsonian about how they interact with schools.

"We feel like being part of (100Kin10) we will be able to access resources and network with organizations facing the same issues," Taylor said. We should be able to apply that to schools in the area."

"From that employer and community engagement session we were able to pull some different tactics to entice employer partners with schools," Taylor said. "... That's already had an impact (here)."

Moving forward as a 100Kin10 partner, Orchard will be fulfilling a two-part commitment laid out in its application.

"As part of our application we had to develop a commitment, which was two-pronged," Taylor said. "One was to promote awareness of STEM education and best practices."

She added that being part of the network also exposes Orchard to more best practices through a variety of organizations.

The second part of the commitment is to build upon Orchard's Workplace Experience Exchange (WEE) Camp, an "externship" that takes educators in STEM fields and brings them to local business and industry sites.

"We want to take that and go deeper with those experiences for teachers — give them more embedded experience in business and industry," Taylor said.

For instance, instead of 10 different locations in three days, they could stay longer in one place.