2025
UWA Alabama Black Belt Superintendent's Summit — February 27th, 2025
In partnership with New Era Superintendents and QoreInsights, the Black Belt STEM Education Institute successfully hosted the Alabama Black Belt Superintendents: Rising Together & Leading Forward event in Montgomery, Alabama. This was a collective of forward-thinking superintendents, educators, and leaders coming together to drive meaningful change, exchange innovative strategies, and strengthen the future of education in Alabama’s Black Belt region. From data-driven decision-making to transformative leadership approaches, the event fostered collaboration and set the stage for sustainable improvements in student outcomes and community impact.
Mini-Mega Professional Development — February 28th, 2025
This professional development session featured multiple providers, including Plasma Games, RocketDrones, U.S. Space and Rocket Center, EdFarm, STIIX, Kai XR, Learning Blade, Eduvero, Quanthub, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Plasma Games engages students through interactive, game-based learning that enhances science understanding and improves test scores. See your students succeed using Nearpod’s award‑winning interactive instructional delivery, standards-aligned platform. Ed Farm is the digital education partner for communities, working with K-12 school districts to develop dynamic digital educators and power student learning with technology to help provide equal access to information needed to fill or create the jobs of the future. STIIX offers affordable STEM experiences for teachers and high quality STEM kits, while Kai XR brings immersive HQIM lessons to elementary schools in subjects like math and science. Learning Blade introduces students to STEM careers through problem-based learning, and QoreInsights offers professional learning to drive student academic growth and well-being. QuantHub delivers digital literacy and data fluency training via microlearning. This opportunity enhanced teaching practices and brought meaningful experiences to the classroom.
2024
UWA BBSEI Robotics Competition — January 19th, 2024
This took place in the Hughes Gymnasium and hosted many robotics teams from the Alabama Black Belt Region. For many of the participants, it was their first competition, but some experienced teams competed as well. This was the first robotics competition hosted at the University of West Alabama.
STiiX On-Site Professional Development Opportunity — February 2nd, 2024
At this hands-on training, teachers received a free STEM kit, had meaningful discussions about the current status of STEM Education, became students for two hours, and learned about all the STEM Kits available through STiiX. Following is the number of participants by school and district:
Total Number of STEM Kits Received: 50
Total Number of Teachers Trained: 29
Total Number of Districts Impacted: 13
Robotics Engineering and Programming PD — February 23, 2024
This was an immersive workshop designed specifically for educators wanting to compete in Vex Robotics. This workshop empowered teams to bring cutting-edge STEM education to classrooms. This hands-on training covered the fundamentals of robotics education, focusing on practical skills, and collaborative strategies to engage and inspire students in STEM learning. Key Focus Areas included Engineering Notebook Mastery, Engineering Problem Solving, Introduction to Programming VEX Robots, and Student/Teacher Build Sessions. Teachers received 7 hours of TEAMS Credit for participating in this professional development session. Participants included: 2 teams from Lowndes County, a total of 14 students from two schools. 2 teams from Marengo County, a total of 6 students from two schools. 4 teams from Washington County, a total of 10 students from one school. 3 teams from Sumter County, a total of 20 students from two schools. 1 team from University Charter school, represented by one coach. 1 team from Aliceville Elementary School, represented by one coach. 1 team from Hale County Middle School, represented by one coach. Total Participants: 14 teachers/coaches and 50 students from 10 schools in 7 districts.
Girls Engaged in Math and Science — March 5, 2024
The Black Belt STEM Education Institute worked with GEMS, Girls Engaged in Math and Science, to secure the first ever West Alabama location for the 16th Annual GEMS Expo. Girls Engaged in Math and Science (GEMS) is an educational program designed to actively involve girls in STEM-related activities through formal and informal learning environments. The GEMS Program supports the national need to close the STEM gender gap utilizing eight teaching strategies to encourage self-confidence and elevate interest in the areas of math and science with female students. At this particular event, seventeen (17) 7th and 8th grade girls and nineteen (19) 3rd through 6th grade girls participated. The morning consisted of Keynote Speakers in the area of women in STEM. This panel included Dr. Kelsey Bickett from QuantHub, Dr. Nancy Brooker from the UWA-BBSEI, Dr. Amy Pigott, a pharmacist from Meridian, MS, Kristen McKenney, a Registered Nurse from Meridian, MS, Laurel Esposito with Energy Alabama, and La’Tanya Scott with the Cahaba River Society. Following, the students presented their projects and completed hands-on activities organized by the UWA College of Education Pre-service students and Dr. Robert Mayben from Alabama Science in Motion. The 7th and 8th grade girls completed a HammerBuild, where they learned teamwork, measurement skills, critical thinking, math, and problem-solving skills. The schools represented were as follows: York West End Junior High School, Huntington Place Elementary School, Wetumpka Middle School, and Robert Brown Middle School.