OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – It doesn’t sound like a typical library at Pinewood Elementary School.
“When they come to the library it isn’t ‘Shh. Be quiet.’ It’s now, ‘Reach out discover, have fun, play with things,” said media teacher Susan Young.
Young won this year’s CIA Mission Possible Makerspace Nation competition for Omaha. The prize was $30,000 to upgrade her classroom with the latest STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) learning tools. For the last few months, she’s been using the prize money to thoughtfully order educational tools.
While the students might now know it, they’re learning important skills. It’s workforce development disguised as fun.
“Whenever we can get to a student in elementary school and get them excited about doing things like this, we’re able to let them see what their future could be like in a STEAM field,” said Jennifer Tyrell with ORISE, the organization that manages this competition for the CIA.
Young said she’s confident her students will be the next leaders of the world.
“You watch, the kids you see in the background are going to be on those high school robotics clubs… taking over the world. It will just transfer into everything they do.”
This competition is coming back to Omaha. It’s for public schools, so any public school teacher in the metro can apply for this award in January.
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