{"id":1310971,"date":"2019-06-03T22:28:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-04T04:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/careers-explored-at-stem-conference-in-rifle\/"},"modified":"2019-06-04T06:59:19","modified_gmt":"2019-06-04T12:59:19","slug":"careers-explored-at-stem-conference-in-rifle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/careers-explored-at-stem-conference-in-rifle\/","title":{"rendered":"Careers explored at STEM conference in Rifle"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/06\/STEM-GPI-060419-2.jpg\" class=\"size-large attachment-large wp-post-image\" width=\"620\" height=\"471\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/06\/STEM-GPI-060419-2.jpg 620w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/06\/STEM-GPI-060419-2-300x228.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption-container\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\"><figcaption><strong>CMC Assistant Dean of Instruction Lisa Moretti helps students launch their rockets during the 5th Annual Student STEM and Empowerment Conference in Rifle.<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, focused-learning is becoming more popular and more important to just about any industry in Colorado, none more so than the energy sector.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">For Western Slope middle and high school students thinking about or hoping to one day pursue a career in the oil and natural gas industry, STEM training can be what separates the best candidate from the good ones.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">On Monday, members of the Colorado Petroleum Council invited students from across the Western Slope to check out the STEM and Empowerment Conference hosted at Colorado Mountain College\u2019s Rifle campus.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">For the second straight year the Rifle campus hosted STEM conference, which included presentations from keynote speakers, as well as activities and workshops designed to not only teach students about STEM, but also for them to have a little fun while learning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The workshops ranged from math and puzzle solving to hands-on rocket building and robotic work.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The Colorado Petroleum Council\u2019s new Executive Director Lynn Granger said Garfield County remains a central player in the Colorado natural gas industry as Rifle continues to be a great spot for the conference in her eyes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">She saw Monday\u2019s conference as a way for local students to gain exposure to STEM and STEM-related careers in the oil and gas industry. The conference served as an opportunity for sixth- through 10th-graders in the region to see what they might be interested in going forward.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe hope to motivate and empower them around STEM,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">CMC and Coal Ridge High School math teacher Michael Schwager hosted the brushbot robotic workshop for students, which had them build circuits and small robots with the heads of toothbrushes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">He said the activity looks at using binary coding, which is a basic fundamental of computer and science engineering and programming.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cAs a teacher you can\u2019t have a cool game every day,\u201d he explained. \u201cIt\u2019s a nice way for them to have some competition and have fun with it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">In his experience, this type of hands-on learning experience can be a great way for students to explore and learn.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">According to the American Petroleum Institute, careers that engage with robotics in the oil and natural gas industry include petroleum engineers, mechanical engineers, directional drillers, electrical engineers and drilling engineers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">CMC adjunct professor Lisa Moretti said the STEM activities give students the chance to work with complex subject matter and apply problem solving skills to everyday life.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Moretti helped students in the rocket-building workshop, which culminated in the rocket launch to close out the afternoon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\"><a href=\"mailto:azorn@citizentelegram.com\">azorn@citizentelegram.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/careers-explored-at-stem-conference-in-rifle\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CMC Assistant Dean of Instruction Lisa Moretti helps students launch their rockets during the 5th Annual Student STEM and Empowerment Conference in Rifle. Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent Science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, focused-learning is becoming more popular and more important to just about any industry in Colorado, none more so than the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1310971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-09 18:34:16","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1310971"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1310980,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310971\/revisions\/1310980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1310971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1310971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1310971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}