By Stephen Smoot
STEMpact is not yet in the Webster’s Dictionary, but it will soon be on the lips of area students starting this fall. For seven years, the teaching team of Bonnie Crites and Alicen Adkins have inspired students at Moorefield High School in both the classroom and as coaches of the wildly successful JackBots robotics teams, which now number 36 in both the middle and high school.
Now Crites and Adkins seek to expand the scope and reach of science, technology, and mathematics education with the non profit they founded and named STEMpact.
STEMpact will create impact in three different areas to start.
“First it’s important for people to understand” noted Adkins “we are continuing the Moorefield robotics program.”
With only a handful of years under its belt, the Moorefield JackBots teams at the middle and high school level have earned more than their share of accolades. The high school squads compete in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Chesapeake Division.
This division serves as one of the most competitive in the world. It includes a number of schools from the DC, Northern Virginia, and Maryland region which have schools in the most affluent counties in the nation. Undaunted, Moorefield earned a position as a power team competing at the highest levels nationally and coming away with awards.
STEMpact will now function much like travel teams in athletics. Students from across the region can join, learn, and compete. This includes students from different schools, different counties, and also homeschool environments.
Just as last year, this January Moorefield will once again host a FIRST robotics competition. This year the event will last two days instead of one, welcoming the best and brightest from across the mid Atlantic.They shared that they need numerous volunteers to help make it just as successful as last winter’s.
Like Future Farmers of America, 4H, Poultry Festival competition, and similar opportunities, the emphasis lies on developing a wide range of skill sets over and above the actual competitions taking place. These include time management, communication, creativity, budgeting, and much more.
“We’ve had a lot of parents asking if the kids will be able to compete,” shared Adkins. Crites explained that one of the reasons they shifted the teams to the non profit was “with the school system, you are limited in funding.”
One of the main missions of STEMpact combines the thrill and excitement of technological competition with a slate of educational opportunities. “Rural Appalachian students are very talented, innovative, and have a lot to offer,” explains Adkins.
She went on to add that what such students need to thrive is “access to quality STEM opportunities the same as if they were in a more affluent area.” They agreed that area school systems do a great job with the resources they have, but those are limited and STEMpact can augment the opportunities available.
Those educational opportunities for now are only open to middle school students. One takes the form of monthly “science quests.” These start in December and educate students through labs and other hands-on experiences in science. Each month will focus on a different topic. The two will teach two classes during the day and one in the evening for those who attend public school.
Crites explained that they plan to expand the class sessions to high school aged children eventually, but “we did not want to bite off more than we could chew.”
Originally the word “university”in medieval times referred to any place that a person could learn from a teacher, describing the universality of an education experience that could be had anywhere. It could be a dedicated space or a table at a local eatery.
Other student-centered services will include virtual or face-to-face tutoring in math and science, as well as providing the official homeschool science and math portfolio reviews required under state law.
STEMpact will hold its sessions first in Adkins large basement converted for this purpose, but Adkins and Crites see it moving into a more public space very soon. Advisors from similar groups in Garrett County, Maryland and Morgantown have urged Crites and Adkins to approach their County Commissions to inquire about use of public buildings.
A third leg of the STEMpact stool will involve working with adults to help them make their own impact in the field, working with both teachers and parents. Adkins and Crites seek, for example, to train parents or others to serve as coaches of robotics teams in their own areas, ensuring that even more children can enjoy the opportunities to learn and compete.
Furthermore, they will also conduct professional development events from which educators can receive credit for attending. Adkins shared that in West Virginia “there are not a lot of quality professional development opportunities within STEM.”
Both educators have earned awards for excellence. Crites had been selected by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to launch a pilot program to improve teaching practices, but that died during COVID. Adkins received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science in 2023. Both serve on the board of West Virginia Science Teachers Association and have led professional development opportunities in the past.
All educational programming by STEMpact is eligible for the West Virginia HOPE Scholarship that supports home school and other forms of education outside of traditional public schools.
