About WA STEM Advocacy
WA STEM Advocacy is an effort to advocate for funding and access to STEM Education in Washington State by supporting Senate Bill 5092 Section 522 for FIRST funding.
WA STEM Advocacy is an effort to advocate for funding and access to STEM Education in Washington State by supporting Senate Bill 5092 Section 522 for FIRST funding.
Our meeting with Senator Billig's assistant was extremely successful. Since they are located in Spokane, they were not previously exposed to FIRST before. After we introduced the program, showed our robot, and explained a match to show the collaboration and teamwork within alliances, the legislative assistant seemed super willing to bring this up with Senator Billig to see how best to provide more funding for teams and a building in Kent. He was extremely friendly, seemed impressed by our work, asked a lot of questions, and even asked how he could help our mission. This was an extremely successful meeting for WA STEM Advocacy!
Our meeting with Senator Wilson was super impactful. Senator Wilson was not previously exposed to the FIRST program and when we introduced her to our robot and accomplishments to making it to the World Championship, she was really impressed and gave us lots of resources on how to extend our STEM Advocacy efforts. Now, we are working with her to reach out to more legislators and extend the impact of our efforts.
School District levys go towards funding school district technology, higher-level education, and more benefits for the academic success of students. To advocate for better education, specifically in STEM education, WA STEM Advocacy advocated families to vote for the levy in their district to promote funding for after-school activities like FIRST. We were able to post on various social media platforms!
We also talked with Melissa deVita, the financial officer of the Bellevue School District, on how we can increase funding for STEM in the Bellevue School District. We were able to learn about how the levy will go towards students pursuing their passion, which very much includes STEM funding.
Recording is available on request based on circumstance.
Description: Our Washington STEM Advocacy Lobby Day Training trained participants on how to talk to legislators about STEM Advocacy. Our event was extremely successful with 50 participants! We would like to thank all our speakers, organizers, and attendees for making this event possible!
Email contact@everstem.org for the recording!
| Time | Segment | Speaker |
|---|---|---|
| 1:00 PM - 1:10 PM | Opening Remarks | STEM Advocacy |
| 1:10 PM - 1:40 PM | Federal Structure | Mihir Jain |
| 1:40 PM - 2:10 PM | WA Government Structure 101 | Ben Moskalensky |
| 2:10 PM - 2:40 PM | Kahoot on Government Structure | Lizzy & Enrica |
| 2:40 PM - 3:10 PM | Education Panelist | Jane Aras |
| 3:10 PM - 4:00 PM | STEM Advocacy 101 | Jonah Sementkowski |
| 4:00 PM - 4:10 PM | Break | None |
| 4:10 PM - 4:20 PM | What We Are Supporting | Eesha Jain |
| 4:20 PM - 4:50 PM | How to Have Effective Meetings | Jonah Sementkowski |
| 4:50 PM - 5:00 PM | Closing Remarks | STEM Advocacy |
First Tech Challenge (FTC) Team 18225 High Definition is a 2nd year veteran robotics team from Bellevue, Washington composed of 14 enthusiastic and motivated students from the 7th-12th grades. Our mission is to promote STEM and FIRST within our community to help establish the next generation of innovators!
Everstem Education is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Washington State, USA. We are dedicated to making STEM educational opportunities more accessible for all students through free workshops, seminars, hackathon events and providing grants and mentorship for new FIRST Lego League (FLL) and FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC).
