What if an ankle brace could track healing progress? What if a dog collar could monitor food intake?
These are the questions Caledonia High School students are considering as they plan their projects for the FlexFactor program.
The project-based STEM program challenges students to solve a real-world problem as they learn about advanced manufacturing technology and entrepreneurship.
“It exposes those students to the possibilities of working in industry in different ways than what they’ve thought of before,” said Jason Forrester, personal finance and marketing teacher at CHS. “A lot of my students are younger than a senior … (they’re) still trying to find what they want to do. Hopefully this will help them find a little bit of direction.”
The FlexFactor program started in 2021 when East Mississippi Community College, local employers, K-12 schools and Mississippi State University partnered with California-based technology company NextFlex.
Sarah Oswalt, FlexFactor program manager, said the program was started by NextFlex in an effort to introduce students to the benefits of STEM careers and skilled trade jobs.
“We are seeing that we’re going to have a dip and decline in workforce in the next few years, or the coming years, and so we’re working on trying to generate a little more interest in our workforce and advanced manufacturing,” Oswalt told The Dispatch on Thursday.
Throughout the program, students conceptualize a product that uses a flexible hybrid electronic to solve a real-world, human problem. Flexible hybrid electronics is technology that combines silicon electronics with printed electronics to create flexible devices that can monitor activity.
Students then develop a business plan to market their product before pitching it to a panel of local industry leaders at the end of the semester.
The program also includes curriculum-based classes that delve into engineering and advanced manufacturing as well as tours of local industries and The Communiversity. Students can build on the business skills they’re learning in class while also being exposed to careers in STEM, Oswalt said.
“I think the whole project is really cool because they’re in finance and marketing, business classes, and so they really have seen a full circle of how business models and business plans are developed while also learning about some different careers they might be interested in,” she said.
Oswalt said the program aims to reach 400 students a year by working with the local schools. This year, she has already started programming with two schools, including CHS, and is working on adding a third.
The program encourages students to start thinking about their future education and career plans. Partnerships with local industries expose the students to the options that are right down the road and readily available to them, Oswalt said.
“We don’t always do the best job of giving them a vision of all their different options in this area,” she said. “I’m just hoping that some of our local students really see that there are options here and that they don’t have to leave our area, leave the state to make a good living and to provide for their families.”
Forrester said he has already seen the impact of the program on his students. More students show interest in STEM and skilled trade careers each year, he said.
“Last year, if I had 50 kids, there were probably about five or six,” he said. “Now, there’s a good many more. I’d say almost half.”
Senior Carson Gorum said the program and the semester project have introduced him to opportunities in STEM and manufacturing of which he had been unaware.
“I think it really broadens our horizons,” Gorum told The Dispatch. “It makes us think at the next level, and it shows us how to critically think and help people.”
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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