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Truckee airport, Boys & Girls Club partner for STEM education

Special to the Sun
Club members build and control their own robot to compete in a Lego Robotics tournament.
Courtesy Nina Miller |

TRUCKEE, Calif. — The Truckee Tahoe Airport District recently provided the Boys & Girls Club of North Lake Tahoe with a grant of $45,000 per year for three years to provide Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) programing for local youth.

The grant is promoting a nation-wide push to keep America globally competitive in STEM education.

According to the National Math and Science Initiative, only 46 percent of U.S. high school graduates are ready for college-level math and 31 percent for college-level science.



By 2018, the U.S. may be short as many as 3 million highly skilled workers; two-thirds of those jobs will require at least some post-secondary education.

Thanks to the partnership with the airport, the Boys & Girls Club now employs a year-round STEM coordinator to create and implement education programs that focus on STEM and aviation.



This summer, the Boys & Girls Club assisted with the airport’s and Civil Air Patrol’s “Mission to Mars Camp” and developed a specialty camp at the club to introduce younger students to aviation and space science.

This school year, kids will have daily opportunities to engage in STEM at both the Kings Beach and Truckee club sites, and each of Tahoe Truckee Unified School District’s fifth-grade classrooms will receive a STEM presentation to prepare them for their airport-supported Challenger Shuttle Simulation field trip.

The Boys & Girls Club appointed Will Sinnott, an audio engineer, as STEM Coordinator this fall.

Sinnott says, “The importance of STEM knowledge and application is exponentially increasing every day in our global age. Not only do these advances bring convenience and efficiency to our everyday lives, but the learning process in which a student goes through is extremely beneficial.

“The critical thinking, team camaraderie, independent reflection and leadership skills learned while working through projects are key ingredients to a student’s future in any endeavor they pursue. Through programs like Lego Robotics and more recent additions in aviation and computer coding, the Boys & Girls Club strives to expose more students to the wonderful things the STEM world has to offer.”

Now, because of the airport’s support, students have a greater opportunity to engage in STEM after school.

“The Truckee Tahoe Airport District is excited to be partnering with the Boys & Girls Club,” said Mike Barrett, Safety Coordinator at the Truckee Tahoe Airport. “We share a common goal of encouraging the youth of our community to explore and expand their opportunities through the STEM and Aviation programs provided by the Boys & Girls Club. We know the results of these programs will benefit our community as a whole for years to come.”

This article was submitted by the Boys & Girls Club of North Lake Tahoe. To learn more, visit http://www.bgcnlt.org or call 530-546-4324.


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