By Kathleen Fowler, Professor of Mathematics, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Clarkson University
Since starting my career as a faculty member in 2003, I jumped right in to K-12 Outreach and have never looked back. I was motivated by my strong connection to my community, which is located in St. Lawrence County, a geographically isolated, rural part of upstate New York. All K-12 districts in this county share the same problems of limited resources, significant poverty rates, and a “high needs” population. My choice to become involved in K-12 Outreach was a personal one. I had a very nonlinear path to becoming a mathematician. I was raised by a single mom who sold cars and told me I could do anything I wanted to if I hunkered down and worked hard. I went to three different colleges, changed majors three times, and took five years to get my undergraduate degree—waitressing for the last three years to support myself. I only had one female math teacher in 8th grade and one female math professor—but not until graduate school. My point is, I didn’t have many female STEM role models, but honestly not much of this occurred to me until I started to get involved in K-12 Outreach. However, I quickly understood that these experiences are not the norm and that not every child has an encouraging support system to motivate them. Even for students who do have strong family support, a lack of opportunities for resume building activities or enrichment such as Robotics or Science Olympiad or even an AP Physics class means they are not even competitive when they apply to colleges. I am raising two daughters in this community—they and their peers deserve the same opportunities as students in affluent suburbs scattered across “downstate” New York and elsewhere.
Feedback I’ve received from faculty from a variety of Universities that do K-12 Outreach imply that a common thread is a feeling of wanting to “give back” or to honor a K-12 teacher that made a difference in their lives. The bottom line is that this sort of service to the broader community is a win-win situation. In times of major budget cuts in education, new curriculum and assessments, exhausted teachers, overworked parents, and a new generation of students who need STEM problem solving skills more than ever, it feels great to help out in any possible way. In this article, I’ll describe what K-12 Outreach is and share examples about how mathematics faculty can get involved on a variety of levels. My hope is that, as mathematicians, we can share our expertise with and also learn from the K-12 community to strengthen STEM education through collaboration. Continue reading