This story originally appeared in the January 2025 edition of The Commuter.
Increasing representation in STEM is kind of a big deal. So, closing the gender gap is a main focus of the Mid-Valley STEM-CTE Hub and its director Sarah Whiteside.
Whiteside has seen a resurgence in women and minorities who are going into the STEM-CTE (science, technology, engineering, math; career technical education) program. She knows that if they start at the grade school level, they will find out that science is fun and exciting. “It’s helpful to just talk about what the hub does,” said Whiteside. “If you think about a wheel, right? There’s a center and you have all the different spokes. So the idea with the hub is that we connect different entities that have kind of similar goals around achievement.”
Whiteside explained how the hub helps connect different organizations towards a common goal.
“STEM-CTE brings industry partners in Benton and Linn counties in line: K-12 education, post-secondary [education], and community-based organizations, along with out of school organizations like Boys and Girls Clubs, YMCA, and libraries – all kinds of different entities that are interested in a diverse workforce and equitable opportunities. But they can be siloed,” she said.
Whiteside acknowledged that facilitating that collaboration can have its difficulties.
“They don’t always work together,” she said. “It is not very common that K-12 and manufacturing partner up to support student success, and so when you have those silos, what ends up happening is that you don’t have alignment. Then students aren’t being served as well as they could be because people aren’t partnering. But they have shared interest. So the idea with the hub is that we’re in this special place where we can bring these different voices together around a similar table to ask this question of what needs to be changed system-wide.”
“…There isn’t a lot of diversity in these fields. STEM-CTE is working to reduce these inequities. There are high wage, high demand jobs that are often not being filled by a representative portion of the population. So these are deep and difficult systemic issues.”
Whiteside explained how the Mid-Valley Hub is working towards solving these problems.
“A lot of what we do is we work with K-12 educators to provide them with professional development in order to bring STEM into their classroom by making it hands-on, experiential and fun,” she said. “Even though a little girl in kindergarten isn’t thinking about her career, if she can get exposed to electrical circuits and realize that it can be fun, this is a skill set that she could potentially continue to explore without being told, ‘This is not for you because no one who looks like you does this work.’ Now, with the hub’s help, she can get an idea of her potential.”
Professional development for teachers is one way to help change these kinds of stereotypes. Primarily, the hub works with leaders, trying to come together and solve big problems.
One of the ways the hub achieves this is by going into the community and bringing fun STEM opportunities to different areas. Children are the most curious at a young age, and they can discover their passions at these events.
The hub runs projects such as the Mobile Makerspace, a traveling event that brings creative and STEM-based opportunities to communities in the Linn-Benton area. The hub’s website advertises hands-on learning activities such as creating board games and being introduced to stop-motion animation.
The hub is one of 13 statewide. The program was founded in 2015, and the Mid-Valley program was recognized in 2017. Over that span, it’s lifted up women and minorities to bring more equity to the workforce in science and technology.
“We haven’t solved it yet.” Whiteside said. “So, even if people are much more aware that these explicit biases are very damaging, I think we felt that we still had a lot of work to do because the numbers are not where they need to be.”
Whiteside mentioned a recent survey that showed female students often rate themselves poorly when it comes to being good at math, science, and technology.
“They’re also scoring themselves very low with their interests in those fields because they think they’re not good at it, so they’re not going to pursue it,” said Whiteside, “but in fact, if you give them aptitude tests, they excel and the actual tests show them the different kinds of abilities. They scored really high on the aptitude test but they had scored themselves really low.”
“Unfortunately they’ve gotten the message, that for one reason or another, it’s not for them. That’s where we here at The STEM Hub want to get in front of that message.”
Part of the Mid-Valley STEM-CTE Hub is The MILL, or Maker Innovation Learning Lab, a space at Linn-Benton’s Albany campus that provides the room and equipment for different types of creative and technical projects. Those activities include everything from laser engraving to audio and visual production.
“We have our own podcast studio called The MILL, where we have done interviews with women leaders in different fields of science,” said Whiteside. “You can find them on our website: midvalleystem.org. We can also promote other aspects of the college. We have the podcast studio space on the second floor of Takena Hall.”
The MILL was getting a facelift when we spoke during fall term. “It’s hibernating for fall term, but we have not just the podcast studio, we have an AV room. We also have podcast equipment in our lending library that people can check out. … Even if The MILL is closed, individuals can borrow the equipment,” said Whiteside.
Whiteside added that the hub offers a number of different resources. An educator lending library that stores materials at Linn-Benton Community College and the Albany Public Library allows teachers to check out kits that can supplement their curriculum.
“It has a lot of equipment, like classroom kits and other things that any educator in the two county region, Linn and Benton, can check out,” she said. “… From Sweet Home to Harrisburg, Monroe to Philomath, you can check out a kit. That’s one of the ways that we try to help support educators, to bring innovative practices into their classroom with hands-on learning with these kits.”
Whiteside’s passion is getting STEM into the classroom.
“If you’re a teacher, maybe you have a $50 supply budget for the year, so you’re either going to buy it yourself or your students are going to go without,” she said. “…We try to make that playing field more equitable. If you’re in an affluent school with Lego Robotics, you’ve got access, but if you’re in a more impoverished area, you shouldn’t have to go without just because your school can’t afford the really expensive, cool Lego Robotics kit. So we will purchase those things with grant dollars, put together kits, and make them freely available to check out. The podcast kit is one of those kits.”
“It’s a nice resource, it’s free! It’s just a matter of finding a teacher or educator to check it out on your behalf.”
Whiteside said that the kits are usually available for six weeks, with the intention being students have enough time to finish the projects they’re working on.
Kacey Montgomery, the hub’s marketing director, gave me a sneak peek inside The MILL’s AV room. Even though it was undergoing a facelift, she and I were able to sit down and put on headphones and talk as if doing a podcast. The equipment and opportunities offered by the Mid-Valley STEM-CTE Hub make learning more fun, possible, and hands-on.
Make sure to check out the new and improved MILL, reopening for winter term.