To increase awareness of the local STEM career opportunities in Linn and Benton County regions, the Mid-Valley STEM-CTE Hub launched Nuestro Futuro, a program designed to build and enhance career awareness among LatinX eighth graders. This program also supports parents with Casa Latinos Unidos (CLU), providing workshops to inform parents of the available resources.
Mid-Valley STEM-CTE Hub and CLU developed this culturally specific mentorship program to educate participants and their families about local STEAM and skilled trade career options and the steps and skills necessary to obtain such positions. The new year began with participants creating a vision board with academic and personal goals, followed by a career presentation from Heather Medina, Assistant State Conservationist for Field Operations at Oregon Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Parents attended a resource workshop while students made pins. Our last mentor session with the participants ended with activities around coding with CodyRoby and fun designs using 3D pens.
We are looking forward to expanding this program in Lebanon. Starting in May we will be relaunching the program at Colonia Paz and wrapping up the program at the end of June.
