{"id":32718,"date":"2023-07-25T15:40:33","date_gmt":"2023-07-25T21:40:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/pcc-offers-programs-near-cortez-to-aid-students-who-are-interested-in-stem-pathways\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:02:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:02:18","slug":"pcc-offers-programs-near-cortez-to-aid-students-who-are-interested-in-stem-pathways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/pcc-offers-programs-near-cortez-to-aid-students-who-are-interested-in-stem-pathways\/","title":{"rendered":"PCC offers programs near Cortez to aid students who are interested in STEM pathways"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Students
Students attending Pueblo Community College\u2019s STEM workshop this summer created puck lights using 3D printers. (Melissa Watters\/Courtesy Photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Pueblo Community College offers engineering and other preparatory STEM courses to help people learn more about STEM and prepare them to pursue a degree.<\/p>\n

Melissa Watters, the academic and career expert in the program, said the goal of the program and the grant backing it, Hispanic Serving Institution, is to \u201cincrease underrepresented populations in STEM pathways.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy main role is to identify those students in the community that are as young as sophomores, juniors and seniors or up to whatever age you want that might be interested in a STEM career pathway and help them identify courses, transfer plans, work experience and other things that can help them meet those goals,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

This summer, Watters hosted a workshop at Animas High School that taught different aspects of 3D printing and other areas of advanced manufacturing such as CNC numerical control machines (like a glow forge) and robotics to high school students interested in STEM.<\/p>\n

Students used online resources, materials from the Society of Mechanical Engineers, a Fusion 360 computer-aided design application and a 3D printer to model and create a \u201cpuck light,\u201d which is normally used under cabinets or in other areas of a kitchen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey went through that whole process of design, and then they manufactured it by 3D printing it and then all the things that went together with that,\u201d Watters said.<\/p>\n

One student, Niko Peterson, wrote a piece detailing the aspects of the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring these two weeks, the students went through the complicated process that is designing something from scratch,\u201d he wrote. \u201cAt the beginning, students were asked to create a prototype of their design with different types of foams, cardboards and miscellaneous pieces of wood.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNext, they transferred their designs into Fusion 360 by making measurements and designing it on the actual platform,\u201d he wrote. \u201cAfter that, the students used the programs required to get their design ready to 3D print, selected their desired filament and started printing their design components.\u201d<\/p>\n

PCC also did a STEMward Bound program that helps students interested in STEM transition into college. Watters said that while her target audience for STEMward Bound is high school seniors or individuals under 24 planning on studying STEM in college, she ended up getting mostly high school juniors.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though they were a little younger than my real target, they still know that they\u2019re going into a STEM college program,\u201d Watters said. \u201cWe did things around study skills, understanding yourself, communication, the culture of college and then we also did some hands-on STEM activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

In one part of the class, they teamed up with PCC\u2019s agriculture coordinator, Heather Houk, to look into agricultural science and the drone program.<\/p>\n

One of the last projects they did was a \u201cSTEM escape room\u201d of sorts, which Watters said she called the \u201cgreat STEM race.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey had to solve a lot of STEM puzzles, from figuring out what the DNA code was and solving math problems until they get to the point where they gather materials to create a little aluminum-powered car. The first car to cross the finish line was the winner,\u201d Watters said.<\/p>\n

On the last day, the group went to Medicine Horse Center, an equine-assisted learning facility in Mancos, to participate in a transition-to-college event that the facility created just for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was wonderful,\u201d Watters said. \u201cThey used a hero\u2019s journey as kind of a metaphor for change, and they took the horses through a labyrinth.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the programs this summer were geared more toward students who are interested in pursuing STEM, PCC will offer classes in the fall that work toward STEM degrees. Watters herself will teach PCC\u2019s class about engineering methodologies on Fridays.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be for any student who\u2019s interested in an engineering pathway,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Watters also will run a Colorado Space Grant team that will compete in a robotics challenge.<\/p>\n

The robotics challenge is a statewide program and space grant consortium in which students have to design and build an autonomous robot.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike a Mars rover thing,\u201d Watters said.<\/p>\n

Once the challenge is complete, the students will take their robots to the sand dunes in April to test them out and compete. PCC will run the competition for 2024.<\/p>\n

They also will do outreach events in local schools throughout the school year.<\/p>\n

Watters said she hopes to raise awareness for the programs that PCC offers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a lot of getting the word out and building awareness. I had six students in the engineering class and should have nine this fall,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Watters added that PCC is a great place for students to start their four-year degree if they aren\u2019t able to head to a four-year university right away.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe they have to work, maybe there\u2019s some family commitments or they need to build up some skills. Whatever it is, we\u2019re here for that,\u201d Watters said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s local, it\u2019s affordable, and it\u2019s a really good program,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Those who wish to learn more can visit https:\/\/pueblocc.edu\/programs<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

classes held this summer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[155,28,29,572,691,2947],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-32718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-education","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-pueblo-community-college","tag-pueblo-community-college-southwest-campus","tag-stem"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32718"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81901,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32718\/revisions\/81901"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32718"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=32718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}