ASME INSPIRE Celebrates a Successful Inaugural Year

More than 140 students at Joseph Cavallaro Middle School in Brooklyn, N.Y., received certificates for completing all 16 of the ASME INSPIRE digital STEM course during a special celebration event held at the school on May 12.

The inaugural year of the ASME INSPIRE digital STEM education course for U.S. middle and high schools has far exceeded all expectations, having been adopted in 569 schools — nearly twice the first-year goal set by the program’s organizers. The course, which aims to improve math and science literacy among young people and build their awareness of and interest in engineering, is now being taught by more than 500 teachers across 39 states, with the potential to reach nearly 22,000 students.

Based on a successful pilot program that ASME tested in the Washington, D.C., area a year before its official launch last year, ASME INSPIRE is an online, in-class instruction tool for middle to high school students that uses missions and challenges to teach critical technology and coding skills, spark students’ interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), and familiarize students with STEM careers.

The ASME Foundation is funding ASME INSPIRE for its first three years, ensuring that the program is available to schools across the country at no cost to school districts or taxpayers. The Foundation aims to initiate the program in at least 1,000 U.S. schools during that time period.

To mark ASME INSPIRE’s incredibly successful first year, six celebration events were held in May at six schools where at least 100 students had successfully completed all 16 of the INSPIRE modules, which address such STEM-related topics such as basic computer science and the real-world application of algebra. The six events were held at Riverside Middle School in Evans, Ga.; Joseph Cavallaro Middle School in Brooklyn, N.Y.; RS Middle School in Roseboro, N.C.; Sterling High School and Sam Houston High School in Houston, Texas; and Thomas Johnson Middle School in Lanham, Md.

The students at the ASME INSPIRE assembly events were asked to use Post-it notes to explain what the phrase "thinking like an engineer" meant to them.

The six schools also represented geographical areas that the ASME and the ASME Foundation are interested in engaging on a deeper level, such as the New York and Houston areas, or schools that had demonstrated a clear passion for the program, as in the case of RS Middle School, where the entire 800-student eighth grade class received certificates.

During the assembly events, students were asked to participate in interactive activities, such as one where they were asked to describe what the phrase “think like an engineer” meant to them. Many of the events were also attended by educational leaders from the local school districts as well as volunteer and staff supporters from ASME. Noha El-Ghobashy, executive director of the ASME Foundation, was a featured speaker at the event in Brooklyn, where she told the students, “Each and every one of you has the ability to create, the power to recognize a problem and fix it, and the passion to make the world a better place.”

To watch a video summarizing the milestones that marked ASME INSPIRE’s promising first year, visit https://www.asme.org/career-education/media/k-12-grade/video-inspire-year-1-impact or contact Patti Jo Snyder, K-12 program manager, ASME, by e-mail at snyderp@asme.org.