Laserfiche WebLink
<br /> <br /> RIVERSIDE PUBLIC UTILITIES <br /> Board Memorandum <br /> <br />BOARD OF PUBLIC UTILITIES DATE: AUGUST 8, 2022 <br /> <br />SUBJECT: 2022 STEM PUBLIC UTILITIES LEARNING LAB PROGRAM UPDATE <br />ISSUE: <br />Consider receiving an update on the 2022 STEM Public Utilities Learning Lab (STEM PULL) <br />educational program. <br />RECOMMENDATION: <br />That the Board of Public Utilities receive an update on the 2022 STEM PULL educational program. <br />BACKGROUND: <br />In Summer 2017 Gordon Bourns, Chairman and CEO of Bourns, Inc., and Chairman of the Board <br />for the STEP Foundation, approached the education team at Riverside Public Utilities (RPU) <br />about the possibility of collaborating on a week-long summer learning lab focusing on Science, <br />Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) subjects. RPU worked to create content and <br />curriculum that would give students knowledge of applied STEM concepts, the diversity of careers <br />in the utility industry and guide student thinking towards solving challenges related to the industry. <br />Care was taken to attract students from traditionally underserved demographics in STEM Fields. <br />In July 2018, the first STEM Public Utilities Learning Lab (PULL) was hosted with 30 students <br />from Riverside Unified School District completing the full week program. <br />In July 2019, an all-new curriculum was created for the second-year program and many students <br />from the inaugural year returned in 2019. Due to the in-depth nature of the RPU curriculum, the <br />Riverside Unified School District awarded the STEM PULL program status to offer students five <br />graduation credits for participating the whole week and Alvord Unified School District began the <br />process for approving graduation credits in future years. In the second-year participation grew to <br />nearly 40 students. <br />In July 2020 and July 2021, the STEM PULL programs were entirely virtual. During the 2020 <br />curriculum planning season, RPU began collaborating with Elsinore Valley Municipal Water <br />District. With this collaboration, the invitation to attend STEM-PULL was extended to students in <br />the Lake Elsinore, Murietta Valley, Temecula Valley, Corona-Norco, Chino Valley, Moreno Valley, <br />and Hemet Unified School Districts. The virtual format enabled students from as far away as New <br />York and Arizona to join STEM PULL because they learned of the program through local family <br /> <br />