The First meeting ever of the STEM Center Forums was held on Monday Nov. 4, and the theme for it was Identity: A look inwards, hosted by Dr. Angelica Garcia and Dr. Jennifer Taylor-Mendoza. The STEM Center Forums was made possible by the President’s Innovation Fund, which is a donated pool of money where staff and faculty can apply and implement some innovative programs or ideas.

According to a flyer that was handed out during the meeting, it will be “a monthly lunch forum that will bring together NSF Scholars, peer mentors, and faculty advisors in order to engage in dialogue to foster critical consciousness and empower future leaders and change-makers in STEM.” Brian Swartout, who was at the STEM Center Forums on Mon., said there is a study room for STEM students to use, and it opened yesterday, and it is called the STEM Center.

Swartout also said that the STEM Center Forum is aimed for STEM students to reach their academic goals. You can swing by the STEM Center in Building 7, Room 7-307 to do your homework or study in groups Swartout also said “We really wanted to use this forum as an initiation to kind of help build that community so that we can all support each other as we work towards our educational goals.”

Most of the attendees of the STEM Center Forums on Mon. are majoring in STEM. Skyline College STEM students Dave Camoucha and Chantal Sanfeli were among of the STEM Center Forums attendees who are majoring in a STEM major. Dave Camoucha who is majoring in mechanical engineering, said “I thought it was a good inaugural event to have and I’m looking forward to future ones.” He further added “I’m looking to push forward beyond into biomechanical engineering and bionics,”

Chantal Sanfeli, who is majoring in microbiology, shared her experience at the STEM forum as well. “There was a lot of talking and I haven’t gone to one of these before. So I was just coming to it.” said Sanfeli.

It is clear that the students enjoyed and are looking forward for STEM Center Forum meetings that are to be held between Nov. 22 and in the Spring 2020 semester. The next meeting’s theme will be Equity in STEM, which will be held on Fri., Nov. 22 and it will be hosted by the Dean of Science, Math, and Technology at Skyline College Ray Hernandez.

In addition, there will be four more STEM Center Forums to be held every last Friday of the month except in March due to Flex Day on March 27 in the upcoming Spring 2020 semester.