When JSTEM teacher Angelena Watkins applied to be part of the Department of Defense (DoD) STEM Ambassador program, it was because she thought she could get a few extra resources for her classroom. Little did she know that she would be accepted into a prestigious program consisting of only 20 educators nationwide.
She was at a STEM conference when she heard about the program.
“All I heard was ‘resources’ and I always want the best resources for my students. It’s why I do everything,” Watkins said.
She ran out to her car, looked up the application and spent 45 minutes answering some really tough questions on her phone. Those 45 minutes were time well spent. Twenty applicants were selected out of 2000, and Watkins was one of them.
Her acceptance as a DoD STEM Ambassador puts Watkins among a national cohort of educators who will collaborate to advance STEM outreach and innovation across the country.
As part of the program, Ms. Watkins will work closely with the Defense STEM Education Consortium (DSEC) to develop and implement an Impact Project tailored to address STEM challenges in her school and community.
In October, Watkins will go to Washington, D.C. to finalize her Impact Project and learn more about how her project will come to life over the next year. However, she already has a vision for her project inspired by her own daughter. She hopes to focus her project on access to quality STEM education for all students, including students with special needs.
“All students can benefit from STEM, we have equally smart students that just might not be able to fit into the ‘normal’ environment. I have some here in my classroom. They might not be successful in another school, but here at JSTEM, where they are free to be themselves, it’s just the perfect environment for them,” Watkins explained.
Watkins believes that there is not just one kind of student that excels in a STEM environment. Whether they end up being an engineer or not, the things they learn in her class, and classes like hers, are skills every student should possess: perseverance, problem solving, collaboration and even self-confidence.
“So, typically a 7th grader would see a problem and then they would see their prototype fail and they would break down and it would make them feel worthless,” Watkins said.
But, she says with STEM, students are able to redirect those feelings into actions that not only solve the problem but also teach them a new way to look at failure.
“I’m like, ‘Hey, let’s look at the design process, OK? What step do you think you messed up?’ And they can identify the step. And I say, ‘Let’s go back to that step and redesign.’ And they do. They go back and do it again. Try it again,” Watkins said.
With her passion, creativity, and commitment to inclusive education, Angelena Watkins is not only shaping the future of STEM at JSTEM, but also helping redefine what success looks like for every student. Her journey as a DoD STEM Ambassador is just beginning, and the impact she’ll make is sure to reach far beyond the walls of room 1011.