Liberty engineering students introduce STEM concepts to youth at local Jubilee Center

Bridging the gap between at-risk youth and those enrolled in Liberty University’s School of Engineering with backgrounds in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) is a goal of IMPACT, a new club at Liberty that meets Friday afternoons at the Jubilee Family Development Center’s STEM Center in Lynchburg.

Jubilee, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, offers after-school academic tutoring and mentoring programs to at-risk youth, with staff and volunteers serving as teachers and role models. Liberty alumnus Antonio Davis (’08, M.A. in Human Services) serves as its program director.

IMPACT stands for “Inspiring Minds to Pursue Aspirations in Careers and Technology.” The club is composed of computer science, as well as computer, mechanical, and electrical engineering students.

“Every Friday we come in for an hour, we teach (the youth) and give them a quick Bible lesson,” said Darren Johnson, a junior studying mechanical engineering who is serving as club president. “There will be multiple groups working on different outreach projects, some long-term and others short-term, but the goal is to create opportunities for these underprivileged kids to not only learn but to apply STEM.”

Many of the youth signed up to join the center’s FIRST LEGO League (FLL) team, coached by club members. (FIRST stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, a non-profit organization started by Dean Kamen, who invented the [iBOT] self-balancing wheelchair and the Segway.)

The club held a kick-off engineering expo on Jan. 19, with 30 youth from the Jubilee Center, mostly between the ages of 6 and 10, and members of six of Liberty’s engineering competition teams — Liberty Rocketry, VEX Robotics, Liberty Formula SAE Racing, Liberty Baja SAE, the Steel Bridge Construction team, and the new NASA HERC team.

“(This outreach) is something that I’ve wanted to do for 10 years,” said Marc Jantomaso, the School of Engineering’s lab manager who serves as faculty advisor for IMPACT. “We’ve already seen God do things that only God could do. These kids, a lot of them don’t have parents, or if they do, their parents aren’t engineers. They don’t have people in their lives saying, ‘Oh, you want to be an engineer? You can do this and I’m going to help you do that.’ That’s why I wanted to reach out to these kids and plant some seeds. The guys and girls in the engineering program that God has raised up, they have that heart.”

“I’ve really felt God putting it on my heart (to ask), ‘How can I help other people with what I know?’” Johnson said. “This club is a way that engineers can spread the love of God, teach them about STEM … and there’s no telling how much that this club can help.”

Tyler Hill, a junior studying computer engineering, has enjoyed the after-school time with the kids.

“A lot of them might not necessarily grow up in the best family situation, but the people at the Jubilee Center really care about them, and we have a heart for these kids,” he said. “We really want them to show them that they don’t have to just go with what everybody else is doing. If they have a passion, they can pursue it. These kids absolutely could go to college, and we’re trying to get them excited about engineering things.”

“Our goal is to go to the younger generation and help them become confident and get good careers and higher education in general, pushing them toward excellence,” added Elizabeth Deml, a junior mechanical engineering student.

The club is planning a field trip to a LEGO League competition to give the youth a glimpse of the types of projects they can aspire to build.

“Right now, we are introducing weekly challenges and different activities to get them to learn more about STEM and give them the confidence to be able to make their own creations using what they have learned,” said Johnson, who has an internship lined up with Framatome this summer and hopes to eventually work with its robotics sector.

At least three of the club members started with LEGO Leagues in high school. Johnson, from New Hampshire, traveled with his high school team to world championships in Detroit, a trip he said was eye-opening.

“It’s such an amazing experience,” Johnson said. “Eventually, the hope is that as we’re working with these kids in FLL, they can start an FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition) team when they get to high school age, and they can get to a world championship.”

Jantomaso said relationship-building goes hand-in-hand with the building of LEGOs, noting that encouraging the kids to pursue their dreams as well as begin saving relationships with Jesus Christ is the most important focus of the club.

“The greatest need in poverty communities is not more money, not more education … it’s healthy relationships with people who are going to encourage you, people who are already connected,” he said. “Building LEGOs is just a tool to sort of connect (club members) into their world so that there’s that stable, secure, life-giving relationship.”

He has challenged the Liberty students to stay in contact with the youth even after they leave Liberty, considering that continued mentorship a principle of engineering sustainability.

“They may be leaving and getting an engineering job in Idaho, but they’re going to still write to that kid, they’re still going to be a part of their world,” Jantomaso said. “They’re going to keep encouraging them. I see God beginning that right now, and it’s super exciting.”

School of Engineering Dean Mark Horstemeyer said the club is an excellent way for students to engage the community while sharpening their teaching skills.

“I am so proud of Marc (Jantomaso) and the students who are bridging the learning gap of young students with the notion of our Creationeering paradigm (learning and creating from God’s design) and getting the students excited about designing and making age-appropriate products,” he said.