“Go Green.”  We hear this theme all the time.  It’s not only a focus for individuals and businesses, but schools as well.  Matt Winbigler, 8th grade science teacher at Cloquet Middle School, hoped to find a professional who could talk to his classroom about conserving energy use and minimizing individual student carbon footprints.  Since Mr. Winbigler’s school had been awarded a STEM grant through the Minnesota Department of Education, he knew about the “Just Ask” link at www.getSTEM-mn.com was the perfect vehicle to elicit a guest speaker for his class.  

Kim Pearson, founder of New Boundary Technologies in Minneapolis, was the answer to Mr. Winbigler’s request.  Through the getSTEM web portal, he confirmed an on-site visit with Cloquet’s 8th grade science class on May 19th.  Pearson demonstrated how New Boundary Technologies wrote a computer software program allowing network administrators to control power settings on multiple computers simultaneously.   He also demonstrated how to calculate computer energy use when computers are left running or programmed to automatically power down.  Changing power settings can save businesses millions of dollars in energy use and cost.  Pearson’s presentation brought a real life example to Cloquet Middle School providing students with the opportunity to see how the science taught in Mr. Winbigler’s class is used in the everyday workforce.   

Cloquet Middle School and New Boundary Technologies are an outstanding example of public and private sectors collaborating on K-12 science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education.  Create your own partnership on www.getSTEM-mn.com today!  Just Ask, Just Offer… It Just Makes Sense.