The Importance of Youth in Professional STEM Activities

For as long as the nature of scientific inquiry has existed, adults have always dominated the world of science. Although accessibility to conventional scientific education has made tremendous strides in encouraging and including our youth, work has yet to be done to include the next generation to involve themselves with “real” and professional science.
Science is not just made for the classroom. It is a profession that knows no boundaries. Students should not be confined to this restrictive environment as scientific discovery should not be limited to age. Instead, young individuals should be allowed and even encouraged to undertake real and professional scientific experiments and opportunities. Who says young aspiring individuals cannot impact scientific fields, discover revolutionary medicinal treatments to cure our many diseases or even take us to other celestial bodies?
In an age and era where we face numerous amounts of problems on the scientific, social and political level we need the help and novel solutions of young and creative individuals. All children are born with this creative and scientific knack. According to the renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, all scientists are children who never truly grew up and lost their creative inspiration and scientific curiosity. In my opinion, creativity is as important as literacy. Therefore, we need to stop legislation which negatively tampers with STEM education and instead should encourage our youth to keep being curious and allow them to see the world as their one giant laboratory. Who knows, that egg drop experiment or the banging on pots and pans to hear their different acoustic at home although it might be a mess to clean up and quite painful to the ears could inspire a child to one day pursue a degree in physics, biology, chemistry or astronomy. The possibilities and opportunities are endless. It is up to us as citizens, charged with the power of unification and democracy to enact change that allows our next generation to explore their creativity.
Two things are true regarding STEM. One, there are tremendous amounts of job openings, and two, there are not enough qualified people to fill these jobs. The technology sector alone employs 6 million people. By 2018, just next year, it is predicted that the United States will suffer a shortage of 230,000 qualified advanced-degree STEM occupations. Although the Bureau for Labor Statistics has predicted that STEM jobs grow 55 percent faster than non-STEM jobs, the flow of talent and enthusiastic
individuals into the STEM pipeline is rather limited. Dramatic change is needed if we are to prevent a weakening of our science sector.
The blatant truth is that we have an ever-growing gap within the STEM job sector and are in dire need of a nationwide commitment to address the challenge. With a new presidential administration that has plans to squeeze the budget of civilian science agencies we must look for a creative way to keep science a national priority. The obvious solution is to involve and prepare our next generation. But we must do this in the right way.
We don’t want our young generation being involved with science merely because there might be a test in their class the next day. Instead, education, in addition to providing the necessary technical skills required for STEM fields, should ignite passion and serve as a platform for students to seek more rigorous and professional opportunities. In the words of poet William Butler Yeats, “Education isn’t the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”
It is crucial for us all to contribute to this necessary endeavor by lighting the fire and igniting the passion of our nation’s youth to pursue and explore the rich world of science, technology, engineering, and math. More specifically, we need to encourage young individuals from all backgrounds, ethnicities and races to participate in hands-on STEM projects and adventures. Through experiencing these life-changing moments of discovery along with mentors from various STEM fields, the next generation can get an edge and fully experience life as a scientist, something they will hopefully become in the future.
As we all know, it is quite difficult to dream about something you have never seen. How can one see themselves as a real professional scientist working in a laboratory if they have never even set foot in a lab before or met a professional scientist. A majority of teenagers nationwide have already voiced that they may be discouraged from pursuing STEM careers simply because they either do not know anyone who works in these fields or they do not understand what people in these fields do.
The good news is that STEM professionals are already responding to this pandemic. Doctors, engineers and technology professionals across America are leaving the conventional cubicles, offices, and workspaces they normally reside in to mentor and teach young aspiring and creative individuals and truly give them a hands-on look at what STEM is all about.
These truly inspiring and life changing engagements are spurred by US 2020, a White House program designed to bring together schools, committed companies and leading nonprofits to mentor students of all backgrounds and expose them to STEM. The goal is to match 1 million STEM mentors with students by the year 2020. Having had the opportunity to conduct some of my own research alongside professional mentors and researchers, I am clearly aware of the tremendous value a student to mentor relationship has. Therefore, I urge you all, STEM professional or not to contribute to this necessary cause. The time to act is now. We must give our support for initiatives like US 2020 and recognize the importance of advancing our involvement of youth in professional STEM related activities.
Nabeel Quryshi is 17 years old and a rising senior at the University School of Milwaukee. His award-winning research focuses on developing novel therapeutics to combat coronary artery disease and the detrimental effects of chemotherapy upon the cardiovascular system. In addition, his current research goals include creating and utilizing a novel mathematical model of the human cell to understand the complexity of cellular systems.
He has presented his research and findings at state, national and international conferences and competitions. Having won the Best of Fair — 1st Place Grand Award at the Badger State Science & Engineering Fair, Nabeel most recently was awarded the prestigious First Place Grand Award in the Biomedical & Health Sciences category at the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair. This places his research in the top 40 projects in the world and bestows the privilege of having an asteroid/minor planet named in his honor.
Aside from his passion for all things science, he is captain of the varsity tennis team, concertmaster of the orchestra and founder and president of Harmonies for Health, a community orchestral performance ensemble. He is an ardent advocate of STEM education for all and was recently invited as a keynote speaker at the inaugural March for Science Milwaukee. Nabeel will also share his love for science as an invited TEDx speaker later this August.
Nabeel is also passionate about his religion. As a director of AMAN (American Muslims Assisting Neighbors), he has a desire to fix the way Islam is portrayed in the modern media.
Companies:
Annulata LLC — annulata.com
— lifescitechnologies.com
— tetradgraphics.com
— geneowl.com
