2023 $500 Summer STEM Scholarship Contest Winner

Announcing the 2023 $500 Summer STEM Scholarship Contest Winner:

Joaquin L. from Texas!

As you may know, each summer Career In STEM runs a $500 scholarship contest to help Explorer students discover STEM, dream big, and build a future they love. For the past three months Joaquin, a Talent Search participant, worked hard and used Explorer system resources to create a Personal Passion Project related to mechanical engineering. Here’s Joaquin’s overview of his award-winning project:
 

What did you learn, make, solve, or do?
“For my Personal Passion Project I chose mechanical engineering because I am a problem solver and I love to understand how things work. I decided to design a new lock for my outside gate while trying to keep it simple, easy to use, and easy to fix.”

Describe your project.
“For my PPP I designed a lock for my outside gate. What I made is a spring based lock that works by using a very simple design. There is a piece of metal with a hole in it connected to the gate and a metal stick connected to the fence when the stick is in the hole it keeps the gate from moving and the stick is kept in the hole by a spring. To open the gate you would pull on the handle at the end of the stick and create more resistance than the spring pulling the stick out of the hole and freezing the gate.”

What will you use the $500 for?
“I will put the $500 into my college fund so I can go to a college with a very good engineering program and hopefully become either a civil or mechanical engineer. I do think I have what it takes to be a mechanical engineer; I am good at problem solving and I am very good at understanding how things work. To become a mechanical engineer you need a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering which usually takes 4 years to complete. The annual salary is $95,300.” 

Here’s a glimpse of Joaquin’s project:

What set Joaquin’s entry apart was its simplicity and ease of use connected to a real-world problem. He made use of Explorer system resources to fully understand the career field of mechanical engineering, and then applied this knowledge to solve a problem that mattered to him – STEM career exploration at its finest! We are very proud of Joaquin, and are excited to see how his career in STEM unfolds!

Cheers to careers, and congrats to Joaquin!

PS: This $500 scholarship contest is just one of the MANY benefits of the Career In STEM Explorer system. There is another scholarship contest coming up in November! Don’t miss out, and give your students the chance to win cash like Joaquin did! Book a demo of the Explorer system now and get a free Back to School prize pack worth over $600!