LEAGUE

BY CAROLYN DRINKARD

The STEM League is a teen leadership program for youth ages 12 and up. The youth are selected through an application and interview process, and are chosen based on their experience and leadership in their county 4-H programs (especially STEM).

Alabama has 31 STEM League members who lead monthly Zoom meetings. These 4-H'ers present a different STEM activity each time, using items that most have at home.

“The biggest reason I am a member of the Alabama 4-H STEM League is to show youth the opportunities the STEM field holds,” said Sarah Sloughfy. “I love being able to see kids and teens light up when they solve a problem or perform their experiments, because those experiences allow them to see math and science from a whole new perspective.”

Some of the topics the League has covered this year are Oobleck and Slime, Coding in Python, Catapults, Clouds, Making Plastic and Marshmallow Towers.

Janet Lovelady serves as the sponsor of the STEM League. The co-sponsor is Michael Dillon, 4-H Foundation Regional Extension Agent for Madison County. Michael and retired STEM Specialist Dr. Tony Cook developed the program and recruited the initial group in 2019-2020.

“The 4-H STEM League has made it a priority to offer accessible STEM programming statewide,” Michael explained. “We want to give youth the opportunity to lead through expressing creativity and subject matter expertise. I could not be more proud of what the young people have accomplished in ensuring

STEM is a relevant component of Alabama 4-H."

The STEM League has hosted a number of events this year. On February 18th, 4-H Day was held at McWane Science Center in Birmingham, Alabama. On May 13th, 4-H Day was held at Dauphin Island Science Museum. On August 5-6th, 4-H STEM Camp will be held at the Alabama 4-H Center.

“Being an active member of the 4-H STEM League and leading STEM activities have taught me valuable leadership and communication skills,” Sarah added. “Science, engineering, math, and technology holds the key to our future, and youth all over the country deserve to have the opportunity to potentially discover their passions.”

Many of the STEM League youth are also participating in the 4-H Tech Changemakers, a teen leadership program. This group of passionate teen leaders is bringing awareness to the digital divide through presentations to civic organizations. They are working to bridge the digital divide by teaching digital skills to adults. This is a grant project, funded through the National 4-H Council. It has a different focus each year, and this year’s focus is job skills: helping adults look for and apply for a job online, or helping adults learn new job skills, using online resources.

Members of the 2023 STEM League include:

• Sarah Sloughfy - Calhoun;

• Rachel Allen - Colbert;

• Briar Bennett, Cody Bennett, Sierra Bennett, Cody Day, Kameron McElrath, Grey Stephens, Tyler Vincent and Nicholas Weis - Etowah;

• William McCollum - Fayette;

• Jasmine Hill - Jackson;

• Colton Naylor and Corey Naylor - Lawrence;

• Caroline Brown - Limestone;

• Graham Brewer, Max Patterson and Kloe Robb - Madison;

• Alyssa Rios - Marengo;

• Zachary Hancock - Marshall;

• Jeremy Speros and Wittarw Speros - Pike;

• Remington Dix, Arianna Sullivan and Matthew Sullivan - Russell;

• Charlotte Bell, Samantha Huggins, Gavin Yocom, Hannah Yocom and Madeleine YocomShelby.