eSTEAM Sumter Festival aims to create spark in local careers
Talent showcase continues to grow, increased focus on higher schoolers, adults.
BY BRUCE MILLS
bruce@theitem.com
What do 7,000 people, including thousands of curious school-age kids, 97 exhibitors, a couple dozen schools, a robot dog and Lee County’s famous giant reptile the Lizard Man all have in common?
They all attended the annual eSTEAM Sumter Festival presented by TheLink Economic Development Alliance on Saturday in downtown Sumter that promotes local business and industry with a particular focus on industries and strengthening the workforce pipeline with a talent base possessing 21st-century skills for the future.
TheLink handles industrial recruitment efforts for Sumter and Lee counties, and the annual festival is always held on the first Saturday in October in the Gamecock City to coincide with National Manufacturing Week, which this year is Oct. 3-10.
The free family festival matched last year’s total for a record number of attendees, according to alliance Communications and Strategic Initiatives Manager Erika Williams, and started at 10 a.m. under bright, sunny skies with a parade and opening ceremony.
A total of 97 exhibits lined Main and Caldwell streets and the Central Carolina Technical College Health Sciences Center at 133 S. Main and its front parking area. That was a record tally and up from 78 exhibits last year, she said.
The festival allows schools, businesses and industries to showcase applications in science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) to spark youth’s interest in those disciplines and expose them to available career opportunities in Sumter and the greater region.
In recent years, exhibitors have focused more on interactive exhibits, fun-filled displays and hands-on activities.
Exhibitors were primarily from Sumter and Lee but also included some from Clarendon County and other counties, Williams added.
Sumter’s largest industrial employer, Continental Tire, had multiple exhibits at its large booth area that showcased a step-by-step process of making a tire from raw materials to the finished product. The manufacturer’s exhibit also featured a driving simulator and arts and crafts area for kids.
Continental Process Engineering Manager Tracy Harrington said the employer is always looking for technical experience, knowledge and know-how in workers, and the eSTEAM Festival taps into that.
“Science, mathematics, mechanical, all these sorts of things go together, and that’s what we look for when we go to hiring people,” he said. “We are always looking for technicians, engineers and others. We recruit from the universities, and STEM schools feed into that, so that is the kind of talent that we look for.”
Sumter County schools represented included 16 Sumter School District schools and a few private schools to include Wilson Hall and Ragin Preparatory Christian Academy.
Alice Drive Middle School in the center of town has been a national accredited STEM school for 11 years now, and the school’s STEM ambassadors manned its exhibit that featured smaller-size Sphero robots. Students coded the robots to go through Sphero mazes at the festival.
STEM lead teacher Marina Mosneaguta said about 15 seventh- and eighth-grade students at the school are STEM ambassadors and serve as role models to inspire other students to participate in STEM activities.
Ambassador Brianna Martinez said what she likes most about Alice Drive is the school’s library that includes an innovation lab, giant board games, 3D printing, flight simulators, Sphero robots and other robots.
Fellow ambassador Idric Robison-Hinton said he enjoyed the festival.
“I like all the experiences, and you get to do all types of cool things,” he said. “Also, you get to meet a lot of different people.”
At the college level, University of South Carolina Sumter, Morris College and Central Carolina Technical College all participated.
At USC Sumter’s booth, the interactive exhibit allowed youth to make fake blood necklaces to teach about the structure and function of blood, according to the college’s senior instructor of biology Dan Kiernan.
Last year, USC Sumter opened its newly renovated science building that was a $10.9 million investment.
Kiernan said the new state-of-the-art facility helps the college in the STEM arena and aids recruitment efforts.
“The new facility allows us to excel at what we do, which is teaching science and helping students build a foundation to eventually go into our nursing program on site, or eventually transfer and possibly pursue science degrees, such as exercise science, pre-med, pre-pharmacy, chemistry or others,” he said.
In partnership with TheLink Economic Development Alliance, Central Carolina increased its footprint at this year’s festival, showcasing all its schools and multiple programs to target an older audience to include high schoolers, adult learners and college-aged kids.
CCTC Executive Director for Marketing and Communications Nicole Miles said all of the college’s industrial programs were present with exhibits to include welding, automotive technology, machine tool, HVAC, engineering design technology and mechatronics.
One of the fastest-growing degrees in the country, especially as a two-year associate degree, mechatronics is a program of study that focuses on mechanical skills, electrical, robotics and industrial maintenance, according to college Program Manager Keith Brigman.
As manufacturing has become more automated in the last 15 to 20 years, mechatronics is considered a top program to pursue a successful career locally in manufacturing.
Brigman said he has about 80 students in the program across CCTC’s four-county region of Sumter, Clarendon, Lee and Kershaw counties and mechatronics features basic and advanced certificates and the two-year degree.
Sumter and Clarendon students typically train at the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Training Center on Broad Street, and Kershaw and Lee students often train at Central Carolina’s sub campus in Camden near Interstate 20.
The program boasts a 100% job placement rate in the last five years or longer, Brigman added, and the majority of his students do not have to pay out of pocket for college but qualify for various scholarships and grants.
He said the average graduate makes $68,000 with benefits during their first year out of school with an associate degree in the program because the demand is so high with regional industrial employers.
For the last three years or so, the college has had a robot dog that students use to practice robotic programming, and the dog mesmerized youth at the festival.
The college branded its festival experience as “Titan Trades and Tech,” Miles added, and about 40 staff were on hand. Health care programs and dual-enrollment opportunities were also on display.
TheLink’s eSTEAM Festival is part of the National Science Festival Alliance and organizers collaborate with similar festival organizers from Atlanta, Florida, Ohio and California, Erika Williams said.
The festival is one of the largest educational science festivals in the state, she added, and is promoted throughout the broader region because workers come from extended areas to fill local jobs.
“It’s continuing to grow, and we’re certainly excited about that,” Williams said.
Watch the recap video here: https://youtu.be/hSV5pG4KB-o
View photos captured here: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCwsMy