By Paul Tuthill
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wamc/local-wamc-955391.mp3
Sprngfield, MA – Massachusetts has entered into a partnership with a national organization as the state seeks to encourage more of its high school students to pursue studies in science, technology, engineering and math .WAMC's Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports
Massachusetts has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the organization Innovate plus Educate that will bring national and state level industries together to help advance the teaching of science, technology , engineering and math in the state's schools.. Governor Deval Patrick created a STEM advisory council on the issue in 2009. It is chaired by Lt Governor Timothy Murray. Its objective is to reverse a decade long decline in the number of students in Massachusetts colleges and universities majoring in the fields.Experts say 80 percent of the jobs that will be created in the next decade will require math and science skills.
Loretta Dansereau is the director of River East School to Career Inc a business and education partnership..that promotes careers that require science , math and engineering .
About 175 students from five high schools attended a career day Tuesday at Western New England College , where they got a chance to talk with the engineers who make scented candles at the Yankee Candle Company .
And they discovered how much science goes into automobile repair .
In all about 40 businesses and colleges were represented. Summer Tinken, a Junior at Monson High School said it gave her a lot to think about as she ponders a career
Ray McCarthy, the president of the Massachusetts Technology Education Engineering Collaborative says Massachusetts has done a good job promoting the Math and Science part of its STEM initiative
And, McCarthy says the exposure to careers in technology and engineering needs to start before children reach high school
In 2009, just under 30 percent of the Massachusetts students who took the SATs said they would pursue a college major in STEM..The national average is just under 40 percent