BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF) and BDPA Los Angeles chapter combined on a $2,000 grant proposal to Raytheon Charitable Foundation. The funding is needed to support the Student Information Technology Education & Scholarship (SITES) program on the west coast. The objective of our SITES program in Los Angeles County is to effectively use technology to stimulate and sustain the interest of young people in science and technology. BDPA seeks an increased interest from parents and students alike on basic science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) knowledge and integration of science, technology and math in their lives. Many of the parents are not tech-savvy.
We know that 80% of the U.S. jobs created in the next decade will require math and science skills. In fact, 21 of the top 25 paying jobs are in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The average salary of STEM employees is 70% higher than those in all other occupations. However, we are sad to report that our students aren’t developing needed skills. In 2009, just 34% of U.S. 8th graders were rated proficient or higher in a national math assessment. In international exams, U.S. high school students ranked 21st out of 30 industrialized nations in science and 25th in math. Only 43% of U.S. high school graduates in 2010 were ready for college work in math and only 29% were ready in science.
We hope that Raytheon Charitable Foundation will see these dismal statistics and choose to support this valuable BDPA program.
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