Pupils benefit from a strong STEM network
"High-tech in handicrafts", "MINT promotion for girls", "Technology and natural sciences to touch" - the topics and projects of the zdi center ANTalive, responsible for the city region of Aachen and the districts of Düren and Euskirchen, over the past 15 years have been colorful and varied and yet had one thing in common: the goal of making MINT understandable, tangible and tangible for young people. On September 4, 2023, the network celebrated its 15th anniversary.
Praise for outstanding network work
Ina Brandes, Minister of Culture and Science NRW, thanked the many actors from business, science, politics and administration who come together in the zdi network to offer young people an important offer of career orientation. In this way, the young people were given the opportunity to help shape the future of the region, to contribute their own ideas and to choose careers that actively counteract the Climate change action could be taken. The zdi center ANTalive is an enormously important building block in the course of early promotion of young skilled workers.
Special thanks also go to the people who have been continuously committed to the zdi center over the past 15 years: Brigitte Capune-Kitka, CEO of ANTalive, and her entire team. Brigitte Capune-Kitka was happy to thank the ministry and the regional directorate of the employment agency: "If you hadn't dared to tackle the zdi project 15 years ago and if the regional directorate hadn't supported it with their financial resources, we could with our zdi center not be as successful. We are also very grateful that we can use these funds in exactly the way that our region needs.”
MINT is diversity!
In the discussion that followed, it became clear: MINT is incredibly versatile! zdi alumnus Johannes Blumberg reported on a photovoltaic project that he was able to implement in his school's robotics working group. During the project he was able to learn valuable skills and gain experience that goes beyond MINT knowledge: "We have to think about financing, be able to present our project well and team management is also part of it. I find these experiences, together with the sense of achievement and self-realization that you can experience in such MINT projects, incredibly valuable," said the student in the panel discussion.
There was a lot to discover
As part of the event, the invited students had the opportunity to experience mathematics, computer science, natural sciences and technology up close at a total of 16 MINT hands-on stations of the zdi network partners. Various apprenticeships were presented both virtually and hands-on. But courses from biology and chemistry to computer science and mathematics to engineering were also presented. The RWTH Aachen was particularly well represented, providing nine of the 16 stations. At each hands-on station, the students could pick up a stamp. Anyone who collected five stamps earned a goody bag.
Until the end of the event, the students were busy soldering, experimenting and programming. Good proof that fascination works through and with STEM.
