Five Questions with

We focus on three primary age groups: elementary, middle school, and high school students. In elementary school, we invite every 5 th grade class in our community to take a field trip to the SPRI research facilities and tour the labs. Each year, these tours directly impact approximately 300-400 local 5 th grade students. For the middle school age group, we travel to local schools for career day presentations and we also judge science fairs and assist with engineering enrichment days. At the high school level, we host the SPRI Science Club that is a yearlong commitment for 10 high school students (top 2 students from each of the 5 local high schools) to do hands-on research projects with our researchers. At each age level, our goal is to expose students to practical applications of science, math, and engineering and we hope these experiences allow them to dream bigger than they previously thought. We know that these experiences also provide the necessary catalyst for some students who may have never realized such jobs were possible and, in that way, the students’ educational paths are defined and clarified, which is very exciting to watch as their individual interests are fueled by realizable goals and aspirations.