A luncheon was held at the Louisiana Region 5 STEM Center for community and industry stakeholders on Monday.

The STEM Center, the city of Lake Charles and the Calcasieu Parish School Board partnered to coordinate the luncheon to showcase the benefits of the center, as well as highlight how stakeholders can contribute to its growth.

As the epicenter for science, technology, engineering and mathematics for Region 5 –  Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, Jefferson Davis and Vernon parishes – the STEM center has provided educational programs and opportunities for locals.

The year of its inception, the center served about 2,000 public, private and homeschooled students, said STEM Center Director Mark Arseneault. So far this year, around 10,000 students have been served. He said he expects that number to double by the end of the year.

LASTEM and Cybersecurity Program Administrator Clint Coleman said that the nine STEM centers in Louisiana provide education opportunities or “pre-k to grey,” as they also offer professional development for teachers.

LASTEM is the“statue-driven” STEM Advisory Council created in 2017 to bolster STEM education in Louisiana, “specifically connecting that education to the workforce opportunities in our state,” he said.

The Region 5 STEM Center is the only one housed in a pre-k through 12 school system.

Arseneault explained that Region 5 works with local industry partners and universities to bring summer camps, programs like Future Engineers – which teaches foundational engineering skills to students through the gradual integration of engineering principals – and STEM-based competitions such as Pumpkin Chunkin, Cardboard Canoes and the Vex Robotics competitions.

Missy Amidon public affairs manager, CITGO Petroleum, said that partnerships prepare students for employment, creating a talented workforce of locals.

“It provides what we need with our future workforce,” she said. “It gets our kiddos into a little more real-world experience that we just don’t always get to explore in the classroom.”

The STEM center programs have been financially supported with ESSER funds, which are beginning to deplete.

Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter called the Region 5 STEM Center a “gem” that is overlooked and noted that the aesthetics and facilities of the center do not currently match the talent and programs housed at the center.

“We have some of the brightest, smartest and most capable students in Calcasieu Parish of any parish in the state of Louisiana,” he said. “We should have the best STEM center in the state of Louisiana.”

Upgrades to the Region 5 STEM Center were included in a bond proposal passed by voters last year. Both the City and CPSB have set aside $1.25 million to invest in the upgrades, including the transformation of the existing auditorium into a “STEM Theater.”

Hunter said that while “certainly money helps,” advocacy alone can help the STEM center reach new heights.