MIDLAND, Texas — The school year is out but the learning never stops. Diamondback Energy hosted their 5th annual STEM camp on June 5.
STEM camp is a way to unlock the potential of young minds, and Diamondback is always up for the challenge. Every year, they host the two-day camp in partnership with Opportunity Tribe, Venture Robotics and Midland ISD. This year, there's a bit of a twist.
"We've also established another way of support and that's our teacher facilitators. We've hired these teacher facilitators," said Ashley Colquitt, the corporate affairs representative for Diamondback Energy.
Four MISD teachers spent three days working with professional development group Crabtree Coaching Collaborative on ways to bridge the gap between teachers and students. One of those teachers being a multi-classroom leader at Legacy High School, Jessica Webb.
"What we've done is we've kind of created questions for our engineers to ask the students to reflect on their learning here," Webb said. "We kind of did that grunt work beforehand, and so today we're going to be walking around and asking those kids those questions, interacting with the engineers."
"Our teacher facilitators are there to really coach the engineers on engaging the students," said Alissa Crabtree, the founder of Crabtree Coaching Collaborative. "How to get them to ask more questions and to get all hands on deck and they're doing that through strategies that we discussed about fostering relationships, bringing out collaboration and strengthening their collaboration strategies with one another."
During these past five years of STEM camp, Diamondback Energy noticed there was always a way to make it even better.
"Diamondback Energy, Midland ISD teachers, Venture Robotics and Opportunity Tribe all came together to sit at the same table and really talk about strategies for our students, for our scholars, so that they can feel successful," Crabtree said.
And this wealth of knowledge doesn't stop when camp is over.
"I'm going to be able to take that back to my classroom, work on that with my kids. Also show the teachers I'm coaching, how they can do that, how maybe they can work on communication with the kids, collaboration with the kids, what it looks like to do independent group work," said Webb.
The STEM camp is just one example of how investing in the students of today will make for a brighter and wiser tomorrow.
Diamondback Energy is hosting the STEM camp again on Thursday, June 6.