Cultivating Tomorrows Leaders
The Chief Science Officer Program was founded by Dr. Jeremy Babendure of the SciTech Institute at Arizona State University. Babendure noticed that the student voice was missing in the STEM conversation. Beginning with a handful of Arizona students, the program has expanded to 9 states and 3 countries. Leadership at the STEM2 Hub knew it was time for Florida to join the growing list of international collaborators and make this available to Florida students. In the spring of 2019, visionaries from STEM2HUB and the Putnam County School District embarked on their journey to bring CSO to Florida, attending two rounds of Leadership Development Training. Their goal was action. The result was the introduction of the student Chief Science Officer (CSO) program into schools across North Florida. Two Leadership Training Institute (LTI) sessions took place at the University of North Florida during the academic year. The result was 56 certified CSOs at 23 schools in Florida. Our state is now part of the more than 1,000 students in 9 states and 3 countries. CSOs at each participating school must develop a STEM plan following the four goals of the CSO International Program. Like how the Future Farmers of America (FFA) are to agriculture, the CSO program is to STEM.
Joining forces to expand the reach is Broward County Public Schools, the sixth largest school district in the nation, who will be onboarding this
fall and expanding our program by as many as 50 schools!
STEM2 HUB ANNUAL REPORT ◊ 20
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