Career Exploration Table

OBJECTIVE: To give elementary and middle school children an opportunity to assess and analyze their
academic abilities in conjunction with their creative interests.

BACKGROUND: Too frequently, STEM careers are portrayed as being strictly technical (and boring).
There can be a negative stigma attached to them, which suggests that to excel in such roles, one must
be a “super-star” math or science genius. Future Innovators will demonstrate that this is not true, and
that there are perfect STEM careers out there for every student- if they know where/how to look for
them.

The key to picking a successful STEM career lies in being able to properly weigh academic strengths
against creative passions! A lot of times, when picking career paths and college majors, students forget
that passion and creativity play just as important a role as their strength in academic subjects- and this
may unfortunately lead them down a career path that might not necessarily be fruitful for them.

While there are numerous opportunities for children to partake in STEM related courses and activities,
few are specifically focused on charting a career path for the children or getting them to think about
what an appropriate path for them would be. Those that do normally expose kids to the “engineer-doctor-
computer science” track, with minimal attention given to diversity or other creative avenues that
also are heavily STEM-intensive.

Future Innovators is unique in that it opens “STEM” to include a wider variety of applications that are
more appropriately labeled “STEAM” (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics).

DESCRIPTION: The Career Exploration Table features a wide array of assessments, activities, and fun
and informative videos and brochures that kids will interact with to determine their creative and
academic strengths and personality types. They will use these results to ultimately determine their
STEM career “fit” from the career wall at the table and be featured as a “Future Innovator.”

Participating children will learn what their strengths and passions are through interactive quizzes,
games, and STEM/art projects. All activities will be tailored for maximum mobility and appeal.

A “Career of Choice” wall displaying a list of STEM vocations that often get overlooked will showcase
examples of unique career paths that incorporate math and science in cool ways. Each of the bulleted
careers will be listed in categories that correspond to quiz results with a picture and brief description of
cool facts about each occupation.

After taking the career assessment quiz and determining their interests, children will come to the board
and look at the jobs in their “category”. They will be able to decide whether they agree with their
category and be able to explore the other STEM options.

Once children decide what they are most interested in, they will be given the opportunity to sketch or
paint their ideas about the professions to which they have been exposed. This artistic exercise will
further engage the children’s creative energy as well as enhance their retention and enhance their
appreciation of what they learn during the program. Their artwork will be their souvenir for
participation in the program.

Children will then visit the Future Innovators Photo Booth, where they will take a Polaroid photo with their artwork.
This  will be added to the “Future Innovators” board.

Future Innovators is a Wells International Foundation (WIF) program, conceived by WIF volunteer,
Kaylan Young. It is our first dedicated STEAM Education initiative.

We are proud to be supported by a Dow Chemical Dollars for Doers grant.