ASME INSPIRE Hits Milestone, Celebrates Student Champions

June 9, 2017

Sixty-three sixth-grade students at Joseph A. Cavallaro School Middle School in Brooklyn, N.Y., were recognized for successfully completing the ASME INSPIRE program during a three-year anniversary celebration for the program held on May 17.

The third year is indeed the charm for ASME INSPIRE, as the program finishes the 2017 academic year in more than 1,000 middle and high schools — 1,034, to be exact — across 47 states and the District of Columbia. In terms of classroom reach, more than 1,000 teachers and nearly 48,000 middle- and high-school students are engaged on the INSPIRE platform.

Supported through the generosity of ASME Foundation donors and in collaboration with EverFi, ASME INSPIRE was introduced to U.S. classrooms in the fall of 2014 as an online, in-class experience, designed to use gaming technology that leans on coding and algebra-based skill sets to complete a series of missions that celebrate the “E” in STEM. Rounding out the student experience are a series of career cards that highlight unique and compelling fields in engineering. Over the course of three years, ASME INSPIRE has reached more than 100,000 students across the country.

Beyond the impressive numbers, measuring the impact of a program like INSPIRE in real time can be daunting, but the program’s experience at Joseph A. Cavallaro School Middle School in Brooklyn, N.Y., offers insight and validation.

Students from Joseph A. Cavallaro School Middle School show their enthusiasm for the ASME INSPIRE program during the celebration on May 17.

On May 17, the school marked the program’s third year as part of its curriculum with a celebration where 63 of its sixth-grade students were recognized for successfully completing of all 16 missions of the INSPIRE online program. During the event, students shared their career aspirations — math teacher, web designer, engineer, game developer, neurosurgeon — along with an appreciation for how INSPIRE brings a more dynamic and fun STEM element into their classroom experience. All told, more than 300 Cavallaro students have used INSPIRE since it was introduced to the school in the fall of 2014.

To learn more about ASME INSPIRE and K12 STEM education overall, please contact Patti Jo Rosenthal, Programs and Philanthropy, at rosenthalp@asme.org.

- Patti Jo Rosenthal, Programs and Philanthropy