Students and faculty are flocking to the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Center in the new Math and Science Building
It’s late afternoon on a Tuesday and the room is buzzing with discussions at several separate tables. Some students are working in groups, and others are quietly studying alone, headphones attached and water bottles at hand. With floor-to-ceiling windows, the 4,500-square-foot space is bright and airy. Tables for four have wheels, as do whiteboards and smaller, cushy chairs with desktop attachments for computers and books — the better to move around to form impromptu study groups. There are five study rooms for students who want more privacy, and a fixed counter that looks out to a wide expanse of trees and grass.
Welcome to GWC’s new STEM Center, which has evolved into a popular gathering spot for students and faculty since it opened Aug. 26, the first day of the fall 2019 semester. It’s located on the ground floor of the new 125,000-square-foot, three-story Math & Science building, which houses the Mathematics, Biological Sciences, and Physical Science Departments.
“It’s fantastic,” said part-time chemistry instructor Stan Hiew, who was grading exams for students in his Preparing for General Chemistry class. Hiew earned his doctorate in organic chemistry from UC Irvine last spring. “This STEM Center is more modern than the one at UCI,” Hiew said.
Hanging from the ceiling are hexagon-shaped panels to absorb sound. There are USB and power outlets on the floors, and two drop-down screens for audio-visual presentations. At the front counter, students can check out anatomy models featuring removable muscle and bone systems and organs; textbooks; chemistry models; Chromebooks; microscopes, slides, and calculators — for free, and for the day or for the semester.
“STEM Snacks” — Hershey’s, M&Ms, Snickers, and the like — sell for $1 each. The proceeds support “Science Showtime,” a program for elementary school-aged kids interested in the STEM field.
Halle Mason and Ally Bebout sat at a table studying for a quiz in physiology later that day.
Bebout, a sophomore majoring in nursing, walked over to another table where her professor, Nam Vu, was holding office hours. Mathematics and Physical Science Department professors are encouraged to hold office hours in the STEM Center. They place a flag on their table indicating their area of expertise: a yellow flag for chemistry, green for biology, blue for math.
Bebout needed help with a question: What causes fatigue? “A lack of energy storage,” Vu said. “There’s an energy molecule in your cell called ATP. Much like a car sputters when it runs out of gas, you become fatigued when that energy molecule becomes depleted.” Vu said he loves the STEM Center —even more than his office, which with a fish tank and candy definitely is cool. Bebout likes the STEM Center a lot.
“The old one was very small,” she said. “The environment here is really nice.” Added Mason, also a sophomore: “I feel pressure here not to use my cell phone. It’s a really good environment to get things done.” Bebout spent nine hours in the STEM Center the other day. “I was here for 12,” Mason said.
GWC Math Professor Pete Bouzar is the faculty coordinator for the STEM Center, where students also can sign up for workshops and crash courses, join a STEM club, and meet with a
STEM counselor. “It’s been a long-time passion and goal of mine to have a STEM Center,” said Bouzar, a full-time GWC professor since 2004. About five years ago, Bouzar participated in a leadership pipeline program put together by the Coast Community College District.
“At the end of that year we had to do a project,” he said. “That gave me the opportunity to put all my ideas and thoughts of what a STEM center would be, and all the services that it would provide, on paper.
“And so I wrote up a report and a proposal and I submitted that as my project — never really thinking that it was going to really become something. But my project kind of planted the seed in some of the district leaders’ minds, and it kind of just took off from there.” The new STEM Center replaces a much smaller space in the old Math & Sciences building that was converted from a storage space.
“We turned it into a small STEM center,” Bouzar recalled. “It was the size of a classroom. We got a bunch of tables and chairs from around campus that weren’t being used.” The new STEM Center is light years beyond the old one. Bouzar currently is working on getting signs and graphics to better identify the STEM Center — a project he hopes to complete by the end of the year.
During the fall and spring semester, the STEM Center is open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Fridays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. To use it, students need to sign in with a mobile app or by punching information into a computer.
“There are times where you see students in there and it’s packed because they’re all studying for exams or practicums that are coming up,” Bouzar said. “And then there are times when it’s a little bit slower.”
The STEM Center, which can hold up to 250 people, is averaging between 150 and 180 users a day.
“STEM is obviously a growing field,” Bouzar said. “We need more STEM-educated students. And so we wanted to have space for them to have a resource and a place that they can come to know that we have available resources for them while they’re in school and even while they leave, we want to start providing career opportunities and internship opportunities.”
Danielle Stene, a major in nursing who works the front counter part-time at the STEM Center, says the center has been a sanctuary for her. “It’s a great space for studying and for hanging out between classes. It’s a place with like-minded individuals. I can find help from potential friends and professors here. It’s a very welcoming environment. I’ve had people say, ‘Wow, we’re starting to look like a top-line, four-year university.’”
For more information, visit goldenwestcollege.edu/STEM
