Competition open to students
Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley and acting Secretary of Education Carolyn Dumaresq on Wednesday visited Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology in Lancaster to kick off the statewide Governor's Jobs1st STEM Competition: Building a Stronger Pennsylvania.
The competition is open to public, nonpublic and private school students in grades nine through 12 to showcase their skills and expertise in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.Teams of five students will be selected from each interested school and will explore STEM opportunities available in their local communities. Students will select a real-world problem, conduct research, and design, build and present a prototype device that is capable of making the quality of life better for the citizens of Pennsylvania.The first phase of the competition will be in February 2015 during 27 regional competitions to be hosted by the state's intermediate units. Student teams that win the regional competition will advance to the statewide competition, which will be held on May 29, 2015, at Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology in Lancaster.To ensure that all students are able to participate, each student team will be given a $500 stipend to cover project costs at the regional level, and each team that advances to the state competition will be given an additional $750 stipend.For the statewide competition, the top three teams will be awarded with scholarships for postsecondary education. For first place, each student team member will receive $2,000; for second place, each will receive $1,000; and for third place, each will receive $500.The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education will provide an additional scholarship to those winning students who choose to attend one of the 14 PASSHE universities. First-place winners will receive an additional $1,000 and second- and third-place winners will receive an additional $500. For more information, see