National STEM Day means a great deal to students throughout the Coastal Bend.
STEM means, science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
At the Innovation Academy at Moody High School students have learned how STEM has helped them throughout their lives as well as building robots, such as underwater robots.
Senior Ramsey Tapia says because of STEM and the CITGO Innovation Academy at Moody High School, he is going to become a computer science engineer and hopes to go to the Masters Institute of Technology. He says that STEM is important in all aspects of our lives.
“STEM is like an element into every single problem,” Tapia said. “And from the international space station to inventing quantum computing, it’s there. And those inventions make differences, and STEM is the source of those differences. And without those distinctions we wouldn’t be where we are today.”
The Innovation Academy at Moody High School was the flagship where it all started. It is completely funded by CITGO and from the success at Moody, CITGO has now added other Innovation Academies throughout the Coastal Bend and in other cities where CITGO has a refinery plant.
To celebrate National STEM Day, the students at Moody H.S. Innovation Academy discussed what they have learned through the program.
Senior Katarina Ramos doesn’t plan to enter engineering when she graduates, but says that being a part of the academy has helped her with presenting and communicating to others.
“I’ve learned a lot about presenting myself, using my vocabulary, and the intellect that I’ve gained through this program,” Ramos said. “I’ve been able to apply that in all aspects of my life.”
Ramos says she intends to major in communications at a four-year university and says joining the Innovation Academy has taught her to be open to new opportunities and go for something out of her comfort zone.