A showcase of science, technology, engineering and math is a way of encouraging young minds to explore the possibilities of the future, according to the sponsors of a major, long-running exposition in New Jersey.
The Jersey City Medical Center/RWJBarnabas Health STEM Showcase took place this month in Jersey City. More than 350 students in fifth through 12th grade took part in the competition, which was held in the city’s Liberty Science Center.
Sharon Ambis, director of marketing with the Jersey City Medical Center, part of the RWJBarnabas Health system, said her company has sponsored the event since 2016.
“It was formerly known as the Hudson County Science Fair and was produced by The Jersey Journal up until 2016,” Ambis told HR Daily Wire. “When Joseph Scott, Jersey City Medical Center’s president and CEO, learned the Jersey Journal was unable to continue to produce the fair and would be discontinued, Jersey City Medical Center came to the rescue.”
This is the 60th anniversary of the event, which began in the 1950s as a competition between students from just a handful of counties. The Jersey Journal sponsored the event from its early years.
“As an anchor institution in Jersey City, the largest city in Hudson County, Jersey City Medical Center is committed to making a positive impact on the local community and one way to achieve this is by encouraging our young minds to explore the possibilities of a future in the field of STEM,” Ambis said.
The top two winners of the compeition are heading to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Pittsburgh in May.
“I am constantly amazed by the caliber of the student projects that come through the doors of Liberty Science Center,” Showcase Director Kay O’Malley told NJ.com. “Over the past three decades, the strength of student research has improved beyond all expectations. Hudson County’s teachers and schools are doing an amazing job. I would put them up against any educators anywhere in the country; they are dedicated and skilled beyond words.”
A STEM ecosystem, the New Jersey STEM Pathways Network, has been developed in the state.
On its website, the network said there was a collaborative effort involving schools, parents and local industry to provide resources to help advance rigorous and relevant education in the state.
It was initiated by the New Jersey Office of the Secretary of Higher Education in 2014 as a public-private strategic alliance established to inform the alignment of STEM resources, according to the website.
