STEAM Hub Partners are Columbus- and Westerville-area businesses and organizations that partner with Westerville City Schools. STEAM Hub Partners volunteer time, expertise and other resources to help children achieve academically, develop life skills, and make a successful transition from school to career.

The Westerville STEAM Hub will serve as a resource for Westerville City Schools to increase students’ interest in and preparedness for the STEAM workforce. Collaborative partnerships between STEAM Hub, Schools, and STEAM community (K-16 faculty, industry, government) professionals will be the cornerstone of this effort.

The Hub aims to include Columbus’ small businesses, professional and neighborhood groups, retailers, faith communities, and university student organizations in an effort to support interdisciplinary education in our schools.

• To assemble and facilitate utilization of curricula aligned with state and common core standards that effectively engage Westerville City Schools K-12 students in STEAM learning.
• To create a sustainable culture of sharing and collaboration in the local, regional and state STEAM community through the establishment of productive partnerships among K-12 and local STEAM faculty, business/industry representatives, government and community organizations.

• To achieve measurable results that are communicated, evaluated and part of an ongoing continuous improvement process to enable innovation and sustainable change.
• To develop college and career readiness among all students that is guided by an understanding among teachers, parents and students of STEAM careers of the 21^st Century and the pathways to achieve them.
• To identify and promote STEAM activities and events that are engaging, exciting, and empowering for students.

How It Works

WPE volunteers work with partners to find the right school, based on how the organization would like to be involved. Each partnership has both a WPE and school coordinator, who work together to ensure the partnerships meet both the school’s and organization’s needs.

There are a variety of ways partners can get involved with our schools:

• partner with a class/teacher for a project
• host a field trip
• support an after-school club or activity
• provide a classroom speaker/expert
• provide technical/subject matter expertise to a teacher via email
• provide career development opportunities for students at your location offer workshops or professional development for teachers
• loan resources to classes
• collaborate on grants

We will be hosting STEAMHub Sessions, in which we invite partners to meet with teachers, share ideas and collaborate on ways to bring STEAM learning into the classroom.

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 We also hosted a STEAMHub at Hanby Elementary in November! Representatives from Central Ohio Paper Folders, Lake Shore Cryotronics, Ohio State Insect Physiology, Otterbein Chemistry and Microbiology and Metro Parks were on hand to meet with Hanby’s teachers, learn about their needs and discuss possible collaborations. It was a very exciting event and we can’t wait to see what grows out of those relationships!

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