September 29, 2014

The fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics – collectively known as STEM – comprise a major cornerstone of a good education and can be a gateway to college degrees and good careers. Nowhere was that clearer than at the first-ever high school STEM competition held in Nevada’s Congressional District 1, which I am proud to represent. The House Student App Challenge gave students the opportunity to interact with local high tech professionals, showcase their technological talents, hone their creative skills, and venture into new and exciting worlds.  The competition, which is hosted by the U.S. House of Representatives, is designed to encourage student participation in STEM education fields as they create and exhibit their software application for mobile, tablet, or other computing devices on a platform of their choice.

Teach For America teachers, working with my staff and Zappos employees, played a major role in the House App Challenge by encouraging students to participate and develop their own apps for the competition. This is not surprising. Over the last decade, nearly 700 Teach For America corps members have worked with students in the Las Vegas Valley, many of whom enter school with English as their second language and/or come from low-income backgrounds. Teach For America identified students for the House App Challenge, knowing that STEM education can hold the key to a brighter future.

I share the belief of Teach For America that STEM education can transform the lives of students. Job growth in STEM fields is expected to outpace other professions in the next two decades. It is already the case that STEM jobs pay an average of 26 percent more than non-STEM jobs. Unfortunately, it is also the case that women and people of color are underrepresented in STEM fields. Only 14 percent of engineers are women; and while black and Hispanic workers comprise 11 and 14 percent of the workforce, respectively, they account for only 6 percent of STEM workers.

The young women and students of color behind those numbers are the reason I introduced the Training Highly Skilled Americans Act in November 2013. The legislation increases federal investment in STEM programs at colleges and universities serving students of color. It creates scholarships for low-income, students of color; grants loan forgiveness to certain low-income students who obtain a STEM degree; and provides institutions serving students of color with funds to develop STEM programs for people of color and women. It also creates a National Science Foundation grant program to give at-risk K-12 students the tools they need to improve STEM education from the very beginning. 

The House App Challenge was a first step for some students toward realizing they can become the software developers, programmers, scientists, coders, and researchers needed to strengthen our economy, while improving their own lives. Since Teach For America launched its STEM Initiative in 2006, the STEM corps has grown by over 290 percent, impacting over 1.5 million students nationwide. We in Congress can help, but teachers are the ones on the front line every day who can make the real difference in children’s lives. Thank you for what you do.