STEMTech21 Offers Local Youth Empowerment

“Valuing the past brings you to the future which helps you understand the present.” This statement by Annemarie Lampright is quite timely.

You may have noticed the building that housed the most memorable drink in Hohenwald’s past has a new sign donning its face. The cut out reads, “STEMtech21.” And, while the nostalgic days of walking around downtown visiting the mom and pop shops with an ICEE from Brown’s Variety in-hand are in the past, the team at STEMtech21 hopes to be the future. To put details to the company’s plans, we sat down with Executive Director Annemarie Lampright and Senior Marketing Strategist Joshua Lampright.

As an official 501c3 nonprofit, STEMtech provides STEM-related education for children in Kindergarten through 12th grade. “Our vision for STEMtech,” said Annemarie, “is to give kids 21st century skills to help empower them to solve tomorrow’s problems. We believe in jobs, and we want to get those cutting edge skills to the kids, so we can provide a workforce that will work hand-in-hand with bringing higher skilled labor to the companies that will be requiring it.”

Inspiration comes from not only economic needs, but it also hits close to home. During Covid, their niece was diagnosed with cancer at 5 years old. While staying at the Ronald McDonald House, it was shut down due to the pandemic. Because of this, they harvested her stem cells, and she became cancer-free as of last year. “When you are bedridden, you can’t control much, but you can control a robot,” said Annemarie. “STEM made it possible for her to have hope in something and be in control again.”

Robotics, 3D Printing, Basic CAD, Website Building, Coding, Drone Operations and Stop Motion Animation are just some of the experiences that are planned to be available to students.

With the school system being under the gun to perform for test scores, it is not currently set up to provide those extension activities. “We’re hoping,” said Annemarie, “to provide reprieve and a little bit of support in that area. Not every kid is an athlete. Football, Basketball, Karate isn’t life for some kids.”

“And if your kids want to learn how to code,” she goes on, “do you really want them to just sit in front of a computer? Or do you want them to really have the experience of it? It becomes very competitive between these kids, and brings a different kind of sport to different kids.”

“Where we’re at right now is: this has to be a grass roots movement. We want to grab everyone in the community, educate them on the importance, and help them on board when they decide to jump. And, we want to do that soon. Our own resources have gone into this, and we’re now asking for the help of the community. We don’t want to do this with anybody. We want to do this with everybody, because no matter what business you walk into, this is our heritage. This is our culture. Our kids need to be exposed to it. They need to be inspired to understand the innerworkings and visual applications. With technology, we’re losing that.

We want to teach kids how to assess, problem-solve, come up with ideas, and then work as a team for the follow-through.

Their initial call-to-action will be a fundraising event coming up June 24th, Timeless Gala. This is where attendees will dress up as the era of their choice, because STEM is timeless. It will be a time for the community to go and meet the team. There will be a live auction, fun and refreshments. More on the event will be available next week.

Meanwhile, anyone may visit the website http://www.stemtech21.com where a form can be found allowing those interested to provide information. There is also a GoFundMe donation button where anyone can invest on the ground floor!

While monetary donations are graciously accepted, the company is also looking for laborious donations. “We are a legitimate 501c3, and are able to do write-offs for companies who can help do things like wiring electricity, laying flooring, etc.,” informed Josh.

“We’re not just a program. The program Annemarie has been working on,” advised Josh, “has implemented a drone competition, and we’re the first in the entire state of Tennessee to do so. She also was chosen as one of three classrooms in the State of Tennessee to have Frank Brogan from the Federal Department of Education visit to observe STEM Education in the classroom in 2019.