Innovate. Educate. Achieve.
Join Our Team!
The Snohomish STEM Network is looking for an energetic and motivated Full-Time, Manager to coordinate and execute activities, projects and programs for the Snohomish STEM Network and its stakeholders. The Manager will also be responsible for fostering relationships with partners to serve the Snohomish County learning community and equitably support future workforce development opportunities.
Are You a Local Business or Career Connected Learning Partner?
Please share your perspective and experience partnering with Snohomish County School Districts and Community and Technical Colleges anonymously. Take the 10 minute survey or forward to your colleagues who are engaged with Snohomish County learning institutions today!
PARTNER SPOTLIGHT
Childcare during this time certainly “takes a village”. For example, from March –August, Boys & Girls Clubs of Snohomish County served 1,553,330 meals and 776,660 snacks to kids, in partnership with our School District partners. And, thanks again to Snohomish County CARES ACT funding, Clubs are offering 50% off childcare for ALL families in Snohomish County through December 2020. 

Resources:
LocalSnoCo.com COVID-19 Business Resources
Mission
To increase STEM awareness, career fluency, skills and impact for all students. The Network engages community, education, government, trades and industry to foster a STEM-skills learning pipeline for the 21st Century workforce that produces local talent and drives opportunity and prosperity for all in our county.
Get Involved
Find out how you and members of your organization can support career connected learning and career pathways for students in our county. 

Please Contact:
Grants Available for Community-Based Organizations to Support Student Learning
Application Due by October 7
OSPI has allocated $8.1 million in federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds (ESSER funds) through the CARES Act to provide grants to community-based organizations (CBOs) to work in partnership with schools and school districts to support reopening efforts in the 2020-21 school year.

The grants will be provided both to large statewide CBOs with regional networks and to smaller, local CBOs who serve specific local needs and populations. The CBO grants will be focused on expanded learning and integrated student supports to address student and family needs. The grants can also be used to strengthen language and disability access for families and students.

Virtually Tour EvCC’s AMTEC for Manufacturing Day
October 2 is Manufacturing Day
Celebrate Manufacturing Day on October 2 by virtually touring Everett Community College's Advanced Manufacturing Training and Education Center. Attendees can also see presentations from our top instructors in each department (Precision Machining, Composites, Mechatronics, Engineer Tech and Welding).

On October 2 only, there will be a student, faculty and employer discussion panel. Register: WORKFORCESNOHOMISH.ORG/NATIONALMFG 
Plus, there will be presentations from their Manufacturing Employment Readiness and Waterjet programs. EdgeFactor will share videos that inspire participants to dream of what could be. These presentations will run from October 2 through December 31.

More Students Need Education, Training
Opinion Piece Contributed By Barbara Hulit, Fortive and Daria Willis, Everett Community College to the Herald
A new report from the Washington Roundtable and Partnership for Learning explores lessons we can apply from the Great Recession to circumstances today. For example, people of color, young adults and individuals with a high school education or less are disproportionately affected in economic downturns. Additionally, workers who complete a post-high school credential fare far better during the downturn and in recovery. Finally, postsecondary enrollment grows in times of recession, but it is credential completion — finishing that degree, apprenticeship or certificate — that matters.

Early data from this new recession tell us:
  • People of color, young workers, and people with a high school diploma or less are bearing the economic brunt of this new recession. 
  • More than half of Black (56 percent) and Hispanic and Latinx (60 percent) households nationwide reported employment loss due to the pandemic. 
  • The national unemployment rate in May for workers age 20 - 24 was more than two times that of workers age 25 - 54. 
  • More than two-thirds of workers claiming unemployment in Washington state in May did not have a credential, a 14-percentage point overrepresentation compared to the unemployment rate of non-credentialed workers in the general population.


Earn Your Amazon Web Services Certification at Edmonds College
Edmonds College is now an Amazon Web Services (AWS) Academy institution and offers new courses that prepare students for certifications and careers in AWS cloud computing. Cloud computing — the delivery of technology services over the internet — is one of the 10 most in-demand hard skills according to LinkedIn.

The AWS curriculum at EC includes a detailed overview of cloud concepts, AWS core services, security, architecture, pricing, support, and more. Students can prepare for two certifications: AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner and AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate. The AWS Academy provides a 50% discount voucher to students to use toward certification exams.

For more information, contact Computer Information Systems Instructor Louis Ho.
UW Bothell Team Models the Coronavirus
Article from Herald
Dong Si, who teaches computational science at the University of Washington Bothell, and a team of 15 students recently launched a web server that lets researchers peer into the deepest recesses of the coronavirus.

The lens is a software program he developed called DeepTracer, which can predict what the virus is made of, down to the smallest components — molecules and atoms. Knowing the structure of the coronavirus — how the atoms line up, so to speak — is critical to drug developers. The information can create a more precise target for researchers seeking to disable or kill the virus.

DeepTracer is available to anyone. Thousands have logged onto the website since it launched July 21. The UW Bothell team is one of a handful of groups around the world using artificial intelligence — machine learning — to explore and map the coronavirus.

According to independent researchers, DeepTracer’s accuracy for predicting the structure of the virus averages 84%. That’s a good day at the racetrack, but Si would like to bump that up to 99%.
DeepTracer is being used in particular to zero in on the protein spikes that jut from the surface of the virus.

DeepTracer uses 3D images of the coronavirus’s spike — taken by an electron microscope — to probe beneath the surface. Enlarged millions of times, the spike resembles a knobby, gray cone. While the image provides a glimpse of the spike’s surface and volume — if offers few clues to what lurks beneath.

Everett Community College Receives $2.6M in Grants for TRiO Student Support Services Program

The U.S. Department of Education has awarded two federal grants totaling $2.6 million for Everett Community College’s TRiO Student Support Services and STEM programs.

TRiO is a set of federally-funded college opportunity programs that motivate and support students from disadvantaged backgrounds in their pursuit of a college degree. More than 800,000 low-income, first-generation students and students with disabilities — from sixth grade through college graduation — are served by over 3,100 programs nationally. TRIO programs provide academic tutoring, personal counseling, mentoring, financial guidance, and other supports necessary for educational access and retention.

The college will receive $261,888 per year for each program for the next five years. The funding ensures both programs, initially funded in 2015, will continue to serve 260 students each year.
The programs offer students free personalized academic planning, transfer advising, major and career advising, tutoring, college visits, scholarship, and financial aid resources and cultural and educational events. The STEM program provides additional opportunities and support for students in STEM fields. 
Sno-Isle Libraries is Expanding Work Skills Trainings
Sno-Isle Libraries cardholders can access a wide range of free, online employment, training and job services. It includes access links to all Lynda.com tutorials and workshops, the Brainfuse Adult Learning Center, LearningExpress Library, Mango Languages, and the Microsoft Imagine Academy.

The EBSCO Learning Express Library features searchable skill-building tests, tutorials and ebooks for career advancement and resumes. Topics include career preparation, a job,, and career accelerator, high school equivalency center, college admissions test preparation, a school center for classroom and homework success, and targeted help for college undergraduates and adults. Resources are also available for native Spanish speakers.
Starting Sept. 21, Sno-Isle Libraries training staff will offer online proctoring to the public for Microsoft Office Specialist and Microsoft Technology Associate certificates, plus Unity, Quickbooks, and Adobe certifications. All are offered in a partnership through the Washington State Library. 

Proctored online test sessions will be scheduled twice monthly. To register or for more information, send an email to certify@sno-isle.org.  

Fun Stats:

  • Sno-Isle Libraries looked at usage of their eBooks and eAudiobooks between March and August of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, they have seen a 37% increase from last year to this year. That’s 1,508,777 items checked out.
  • Sno-Isle Libraries had 105,473 WiFi connections in our 23 parking lots during the month of August 2020.