Posted by Kevin Lofgren

In the summer of 2005, I and a few other Farstarians were on a sales call up at the University of Oklahoma School of Engineering for what turned into a most interesting meeting. They had their own agenda, of course, but theirs was a win-win for all involved.

Like every other department at every other university, they wanted to recruit the best and brightest students to attend their school. And they wanted to go after them at a relatively young age -- high school freshmen and sophomores. But the problem was not finding students at that age. The problem was finding students at any age who wanted to go into the STEM -- science, technology, engineering and mathematics -- disciplines.

Back in the Sixties, the Space Race drew thousands upon thousands of America's youth to become interested in STEM subjects. Those kids eventually grew up and started their careers in the early 1970s -- which means they've worked in those fields for over 35 years, and are now nearing retirement. Their contribution to our society is remarkable. I wonder if we would have personal computers, mobile phones or fax machines -- let alone the internet -- if it weren't for their efforts. Interest among youths in the STEM subjects declined steadily after the Sixties. And now America seems obsessed with nothing but celebrity. No wonder our kids want to be a pop idol, a top model, a reality show star, a YouTube celebrity or a highly-paid athlete instead of thinking about curing cancer, bridging generations and cultures with new technology, putting an end to world hunger, or engineering planet-saving solutions. We as a nation don't celebrate these things, so why should our kids?

It's no surprise then that a 2006 Congressional Task Force Study reported that the U.S. will have a shortage of more than 500,000 engineers, scientists and other technically trained workers by 2010.

While it would be nice to recruit sophomores and juniors into one of these fields, the sad truth is that it's too late. If a kid is dreaming of the big stage in 6th grade and doesn't know that he has a propensity for math, for example, he'll take the typical math classes everyone else does. By the time he's in eighth grade, he's potentially taking Algebra 1 in a good school. That puts him at Geometry 1 in 9th, Algebra 2 in 10th, Trigonometry in 11th and, maybe, Calculus in 12th.

Let's pretend that he's in tenth grade and is taking Algebra 2. And let's say that somehow he realizes that he's pretty good at this math stuff. So he starts considering the STEM career opportunities and looking at schools for his training. Now, here's the rub. If he's in Algebra 2 (just as an example), there's simply not enough time in the next two years to teach him everything he needs to know in order to be successful in college. By the time some of these kids grow out of the "I wanna be a star" phase, it's almost too late for them to do anything about it.

Now back to OU. Their real goal, it turned out, was to get to kids who were much, much younger than their typical audience. They wanted to somehow train parents to look for the signs in their children in grades 1-5 that would indicate an aptitude for the STEM areas of study. By doing so, they hoped that parents could identify kids who needed extra attention on these subjects early enough to make a difference. If that meant they came to OU, good for them. But OU had a larger vision. Ultimately they recognized that it didn't matter where the kids went, as long as they ended up going into these fields.

At the time, OU didn't have budget to run the program we designed for them; nor did Farstar have the luxury of doing any pro-bono work.

But now we do.

I am personally rather fearful for my children's future, as I'm sure every parent of every generation has been and will be. I have several fears, but chief among them is this: This planet seems to have some problems; not only with itself, but with the humans inhabiting it. And while I don't know that STEM-focused brainiacs can make us act with a little more kindness, forgiveness, peace, love and understanding toward one another, I know we stand a better chance if our smart people are doing smart things instead of chasing empty dreams. Sorry, but I don't think the kids on "The Hills" qualify as a positive force for humanity at large.

Last year, Farstar relocated to historical downtown Main Street in Frisco, Texas, in what we believe will be our permanent home. As soon as I felt that I was going to put down roots, I applied for and was accepted into Leadership Frisco, a nine-month class that is effectively a crash course in all things city-related. As part of the graduation requirements, our class was tasked with conceiving and executing a group project that would benefit the city.

You can smell where this is going, can't you?

That's right. As we started throwing potential projects around the table, I championed two ideas:

• Developing a way to teach kids personal responsibility and problem-solving skills. (This comes from noticing a serious decline in these areas in some recent interviews with young, prospective employees.)
• Developing a program to help kids identify their own interest in the STEM subjects.

My second idea won out (no filibustering required), and we got about the business of figuring it out. Luckily for our class, we had a lot of relevant members including one engineer at Raytheon, one Dean of Technology at the local college, the President of the Frisco Chamber of Commerce, an FISD teacher, and even little ol' me -- the guy with big dreams and a small company capable of making those dreams a reality.

The result was (and is) Mindbender Academy, a week-long camp designed to be project-oriented with the explicit goal of getting kids excited about STEM subjects (through the use of a clever diversionary tactic we called "fun"). The first year -- to keep things manageable -- we limited the Academy to incoming 7th and 8th graders and half-days only. We needed to walk before we tried to run. None of the class had ever created or executed a summer camp before, but everyone did their parts and did them well. Some of us found monetary sponsors. Some of us found course providing sponsors. Some of us got the Frisco school district behind us. Some of us got the pizza for the Academy-ending pizza party donated, or the fund created with the Frisco Education Foundation. And one of us took on the task of making this thing look legitimate -- and making the kids want to attend.

Yeah, the would have been me.

I'm proud to say that the class allowed me the honor of donating my company's services (my time was calculated in as a class member, not a sponsor) to the effort about which I'm so passionate. Farstar named it, created the logo, brand and identity. We came up with the ideas for the courses and who we might have teach them. We created the presentations' strategy, content, and design for the school district's involvement, to recruit monetary sponsors, and to recruit course providing sponsors. We wrote, designed and built the website. We conceived, wrote and designed a seven poster campaign to put in the schools. We conceived, wrote and produced a promotional movie that played in the schools every Friday. We created the camp's signage and forms. We convinced 120 kids to come to a camp that was run by amateurs (at best) for the first-time ever. A camp that was mostly thought up in the conference room on a white board by Farstarians.

Here are a few articles about the camp:

http://www.planostar.com/articles/2008/06/03/frisco_enterprise/news/974.txt

http://www.friscoenterprise.com/articles/2008/06/19/frisco_enterprise/news/962.txt

http://www.todaynewspapers.net/articles/2008/06/17/duncanville/news/dvnews4.txt

The camp went well, especially for a first-time effort. I can't wait to see how it matures. I think this year is just the beginning. And if Farstar can be just a small part of making this world a better place, I have succeeded in doing more than I ever dreamed doing in this lifetime when I was an American youth, dreaming of being in Def Leppard. Who are British. Go figure.

kl

Related Work:
Promotional Video
Website