Rio Salado Launching STEM Mentoring Program

Rio Salado College is launching a mentoring program to help connect students and K-12 classrooms with industry professionals in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.

The STEM Mentoring Program was created by the Science Foundation Arizona (SFAz), and is funded by a grant from the Arizona Community Foundation.

The grant empowers SFAz to bring together businesses, educators and community leaders in Flagstaff, Tucson and Phoenix to connect scientists, engineers and researchers with 4^th-12^th grade teachers to develop STEM education experiences.

In the Phoenix area, the Community College Partnership received a $5,000 grant to develop a mentoring model that teams community college students with participating schools.  Participants include Honors students from the Maricopa Community Colleges and Noyce Scholars from Rio Salado College.

The pilot project embraces a 3-part mentoring model that:

• Creates partnerships between businesses and schools
• Provides practical project-based learning for students
• Prepares Arizona students for college and STEM careers

Read the full news release here.