 Students, educators, and state leaders gathered in the Iowa State Capitol rotunda for STEM Day at the Capitol on March 3, 2025.
On Monday, March 3, an amazing array of students and teachers from across Iowa came together in the State Capitol rotunda to share the exciting things happening in STEM education in Iowa schools with state leaders and lawmakers.
STEM Day at the Capitol is an annual event that offers students and educators the opportunity to communicate with lawmakers and leaders about the many impactful ways in which the excitement and opportunity of STEM are being brought to Iowa youth through Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council programs.
View additional photos from the event at our Flickr gallery.
During the opening remarks, Governor Kim Reynolds announced Lieutenant Governor Chris Cournoyer as a new co-chair of the STEM Council. Cournoyer will serve alongside longstanding co-chair Diane Young, director of Foundation Analytical Laboratory. Representatives from the Department of Education and the Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council delivered additional remarks followed by the presentation of the 2025 Iowa STEM Teacher Awards, sponsored by Google.
The remainder of the day featured student-led demonstrations of state-funded STEM Council programs like the STEM Scale-Up Program and STEM BEST® Program around the first floor rotunda.
“I’ve met a lot of new people,” said Adilyne Reyes, a junior at Ankeny Centennial High School and student with the Ankeny Orbis STEM BEST® model. “It has been a great experience to be able to tell people about how I was able to help a nonprofit organization through this program, and I’ve also been able to see other exhibits and understand their partnerships.”
Thank you Google for sponsoring STEM Day at the Capitol and the Iowa STEM Teacher Awards this year!
Six teachers were honored with the 2025 Iowa STEM Teacher Award, sponsored by Google, during a ceremony at STEM Day at the Capitol on March 3, 2025.
The annual award honors six teachers, each representing one of Iowa’s six STEM regions, for their contribution and dedication to STEM education in Iowa and for their work to inspire a passion for science, technology, engineering and mathematics with their students.
“At Google, we see the importance of having a strong foundation in STEM education every day,” said Dan Harbeke, regional head of public policy and external affairs at Google. “We are thrilled to partner with Iowa STEM moving forward to sponsor the Iowa STEM Teacher Award and honor these extraordinary educators who are on the front lines of developing our future leaders and innovators every day.”
 |
|
Northwest STEM Region 2025 Iowa STEM Teacher Award Recipient: Alex Spooner
Spooner, an eighth grade mathematics teacher and STEM Director at Okoboji Middle School, is in his tenth year of teaching at Okoboji Middle School. Spooner says he works to make STEM education engaging, inclusive and relevant by tailoring lessons to students' interests including gaming, art and entrepreneurship. Read more about Alex.
|
|
North Central STEM Region 2025 Iowa STEM Teacher Award Recipient: Tara Gray
Gray, an agriculture science teacher at Marshalltown High School, is in her ninth year of teaching. As a fifth generation farmer still involved in her family farm, she brings a wealth of knowledge to her agriculture lessons. Gray believes in a hands-on learning approach, striving to provide real-life experiences to advance student understanding and make relevant connections to everyday life. Read more about Tara.
|
|
 |
 |
|
Northeast STEM Region 2025 Iowa STEM Teacher Award Recipient: Dan Kuchera
Kuchera, a science teacher at Clarksville High School, has over 40 years of experience helping students explore various STEM disciplines. From astronomy, meteorology and anatomy to chemistry, physics and more, Kuchera builds projects into lessons to increase their understanding and provide opportunities for creative challenges. Read more about Dan.
|
|
Southwest STEM Region 2025 Iowa STEM Teacher Award Recipient: Dustan Kern
Kern, a STEM teacher at Lewis Central Middle School in Council Bluffs, has been teaching mathematics, science and computer-related courses for 25 years. He prides himself on constantly improving and evolving his teaching to involve the latest technology and community partners to better prepare students for careers and college. Read more about Dustan.
|
|
 |
 |
|
South Central STEM Region 2025 Iowa STEM Teacher Award Recipient: Maddie Kampf
Kampf, a science teacher at Irving Elementary in Indianola, has over 10 years of experience teaching in Iowa classrooms. Kampf began her career in a museum setting, which ignited her passion for inquiry-based education and carries with her as an elementary educator aiming to build a strong STEM foundation for young learners. Read more about Maddie.
|
|
Southeast STEM Region 2025 Iowa STEM Teacher Award Recipient: Chuck Tonelli
Tonelli, a science teacher and STEAM Academy Coordinator at Metro Alternative High School in Cedar Rapids, is working on his 20th year with the district. Tonelli involves numerous community partners in a variety of projects and helps students participate in real-world experiences that afford students the opportunity to network and build soft skills. Read more about Chuck.
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Springtime is festival season for the Iowa STEM Regional Network team, and with several festivals coming up in April across the Iowa STEM Regions, it is a great time to reiterate the value and exposure these events can bring students as field trips or family outings.
One such example of this is Future Fest, hosted earlier this month by the South Central Iowa STEM Region in partnership with DMACC on their Ankeny campus. Over 500 fifth grade students were able to interact with 37 area exhibitors and over 80 volunteer partners representing STEM industry and education. These exhibitors provided hands-on demonstrations exposing student attendees to the wide array of STEM fields including the energy sector, agriculture, biotechnology, medical science, robotics and more. Exposure to these fields is especially important as middle school students start thinking about their future careers and what classes they’ll want to consider in high school. Understanding what STEM careers are available to them right here in Iowa helps inform these decisions.
|
|
“When these fifth graders leave here, we want them to understand all the opportunities Iowa has to offer and to help prompt career conversations between students and families,” said Karen Swanson, Director of Work-Based Learning and Career Advantage at DMACC.
This sentiment was echoed by exhibitor partners like Professor Drew Guinness, Biotechnology Co-Chair at DMACC, who said, “Events like Future Fest plant the seed and show what careers are possible.”
|
|
 |
Exhibitor Janice Beard, STEAM Starz founder and owner, noted that a STEM festival “creates a love of learning that makes [students] like sponges, absorbing and learning every day.”
 |
|
DMACC students were also eager to volunteer for the day’s events and lead demonstrations encouraging curiosity among their younger peers.
“I like seeing the light in their eyes when they discover something new,” said Peyton Wood, Agribusiness student. “I’m a farmer’s daughter, and my grandfather taught me to put my whole heart into whatever I decide to do. I want to inspire that in the students I meet today.”
|
If you are interested in attending or exhibiting at a regional STEM Festival, check out the upcoming events listed at the top of our newsletter and reach out to your regional manager for more details or additional events and opportunities in your area.
The STEM Council is stamping their Seal of Approval on two programs this month. The Transportation Institute for High School Educators and Teaching in the Fast Lane 1.0, both presented by Iowa State University’s Institute for Transportation (InTrans) in partnership with the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT).
Transportation Institute for High School Educators
The Transportation Institute is a professional development opportunity for Iowa high school STEM teachers. The three-week program combines a physics-based modeling approach with activities supported by professionals with the Iowa DOT and InTrans to introduce working-world civil and transportation engineering concepts to teachers with the goal of integrating transportation-related activities into Iowa classrooms and after-school programs. Through the Transportation Institute high school teachers will learn effective strategies in modeling instruction, develop classroom strategies to help students develop skills consistent with the Next Generation Science Standards and collaborate with other educators to develop modeling based and transportation-themed lessons to use in the classroom.
 Teaching in the Fast Lane 1.0
Teaching in the Fast Lane 1.0 introduces Iowa elementary teachers to the world of transportation and civil engineering and assists those teachers in determining how to best translate those concepts to their specific classrooms or age groups. Through this one-week professional development workshop, K-6 educators partake in hands-on inquiry-based STEM activities that address real-world issues and go on field trips with industry experts. The workshop is presented by leading faculty and graduate students at Iowa State along with Iowa DOT engineers and science/mathematics specialists.
The FIRST Robotics Competition Iowa Regional just completed their 8th year at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI).
 |
|
Each year over 50 teams from several states along with the occasional international competitor converge on the UNI campus in the Cedar Valley. These high school teams showcase engineering, programming, design and manufacturing skills while competing in the UNI McLeod Center.
This year’s competition was held recently on Friday, March 28. Each year's game has a different theme with the 2025 season presenting Reefscape by the Haas Foundation. The Iowa Regional has built one of the most popular FIRST Robotics Competition events in the Midwest in large part due to the facilities at UNI.
|
Two schools competing in this year’s competition were Harlan Community School District’s #9543 Cyclone Robotics team and Metro High School’s #9508 MOGUERA Telemechanics team. Harlan and Metro High Schools have both been awarded STEM BEST Program funding to develop models in their respective schools in recent years though STEM BEST funding did not necessarily establish their robotics teams.
"The STEM BEST Program goes beyond teaching students the knowledge needed to get their diplomas, it also helps to develop future ready skills like communication, teamwork, adaptability, and problem solving, which are critical skills needed to thrive in any STEM career," said Justin Lewis, Bureau Chief for Iowa STEM. " It was a treat to witness students displaying these skills and representing their schools during the Iowa Regional FIRST Robotics Competition."
FIRST Robotics Competition is a 2016-17 and 2017-18 Iowa STEM Scale-Up Program provider. Other programs like FIRST Tech Challenge and FIRST Lego League have also been offered through the Iowa STEM Scale-Up Program during several cycles.
 Harlan Community School District’s #9543 Cyclone Robotics team took time to share what they have been working on with Iowa STEM Bureau Chief Justin Lewis during the March 28 competition.
Iowa Governor's STEM Advisory Council
Iowa Department of Education
214 East Bartlett Hall
University of Northern Iowa
Cedar Falls, IA 50614-0298
515-335-1531
info@IowaSTEM.org
|
