November 8th is designated as National STEM Day and is celebrated every year with the goal of encouraging kids to explore the fields of science, technology, engineering and math.
In recent years STEM occupations have seen substantial growth. According to the US Census Bureau nearly seven percent of all occupations are STEM related.
Laura Koch is a tutor for students interested in a future stem career, she wants to help young people find their passion for their lives.
“Nowadays if you really think about any business, stem is involved in some way,” said Koch, a tutor at Elevate Stem Tutoring in Colorado Springs.
The industries within the STEM fields saw an increase of 1.8 million people from 2016 to 2019.
“A lot of people get scared off because they haven’t had a good teacher or whatever. They feel like they can’t do it,” Koch said.
She’s noticed the interest in STEM increase in recent years and she’s now able to commit to tutoring full time.
“being able to like come alongside them and explain it in a different way and help them see like ‘oh I can do this and I don’t need to be afraid of this for the rest of my time in school and avoid it for the rest of my life,’” said koch.
One of the students she mentors, Paige Gonczeruk is a student at UCCS, she says the interest for her came from having a tutor when she was in middle school.
“She helped me understand math, so that when i was learning math it wasn’t hard anymore,” Gonczeruk said.
While there is growth within the industry there are still hurdles that need to be overcome. Including the diversity within the field, both women are looking forward to seeing more females filling roles in stem fields.
“You can make what you want, you can feel cool being the only female, you can make the best of it,” Gonczeruk said.
27 percent of the STEM industry is filled by females with the remaining 73 percent of roles being filled by males.
