American Indians in Math and Science (AIMS), a program through Indigenous Research and STEM Education (IRSE) at the University of Montana, serves middle school students in the Browning and Missoula areas. AIMS encourages students to stay on top of their grades and explore STEM based classes while in school, with the hopes that once the students arrive at college they will be able to confidently enter a STEM field. This program started last summer when 19 students visited the University of Montana campus and participated in a two week camp. They were able to explore the many options for STEM courses offered at UM.

As an AmeriCorps Leader, I was able to help Dr. Thomas, director of IRSE, with this camp by providing a STEM activity for the students. My team put together a project for the students to build bridges and explore the field of engineering. Over a span of two days, they competed to design and build the bridge that could bear the most weight. At the end of day two, it was time to see which bridge would be victorious. Students were nervous and excited because they all wanted to win, but it turned out that all of the bridges were very impressive, as each beat the students’ expectations of how much weight they could hold. In fact, we had to gather extra weights for some of the bridges because they just wouldn’t break!

As the AmeriCorps Leader for IRSE this year, I have had the opportunity to mentor the AIMS students that attended the camp over the summer. I visit students at Browning Middle School, CS Porter Middle School, and Bonner once a month to check in and give them the stipend they earn for passing all of their classes. It has been a joy to connect one-on-one with each student and discuss their upcoming campus visit and the AIMS camp for the summer of 2020.

During my time in AmeriCorps, I have been struck by how beneficial this program is to Native students. The potential STEM careers they are exposed to show them that they can do whatever they set their minds to, and there are so many opportunities for them. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for each one of the MT AIMS students.