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ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) — Students across South Georgia gathered at Albany State University to test their skills in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) during the university’s STEM Olympics, Tuesday, April 14. Leaders said the event is part of a larger effort to build more opportunities across the region.

The event brought together teams from Dougherty, Tift, Grady and Calhoun County, giving students a chance to compete in challenges ranging from coding to spelling and hands-on engineering activities.

The STEM Olympics is supported through Albany State’s five-year, $3 million National Science Foundation HBCU-UP grant. University leaders said the grant aims to recruit, engage and retain more students in STEM fields while also expanding access for K-12 students in southwest Georgia.

For students like Kaitlyn Satonica, a ninth grader at Tift County High School, the event offered more than competition.

“I love it. This is an excellent opportunity,” Satonica said. “I’ve always been really interested in STEM majors and physics.”

Satonica said she hopes to one day work at NASA as an astrophysicist and said programs like this help students connect with others who share those interests.

“This really helps me because it gives me a chance to talk to people who might be interested in the same thing as I am,” she said. “I really hope they do this again because I would love to come next year.”

Albany State leaders say the university’s new STEM initiative is designed to strengthen STEM education through programs for college students, local teachers and younger students, while also building partnerships across southwest Georgia.

The event also comes as some local STEM programs face funding challenges, reinforcing what leaders say could be lost without continued investment in student opportunities.

*Previous coverage on local program’s stem funding*

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