Empowering Tomorrow’s STEM Leaders: EPA’s Community Engagement & STEM Education Program Celebrates 20 Years

Published December 17, 2024

For 20 years, EPA’s Community Engagement & STEM Education Program (CE-STEM) has brought EPA science to classrooms and community spaces in central North Carolina. Founded in 2004, the program operates out of EPA’s Research Triangle Park (RTP), North Carolina, campus and aims to build a more diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible workforce by reducing the opportunity gap in science fields. To achieve this goal, the program shares EPA science with students, educators, and the local community – emphasizing outreach in low-income schools – to show how protecting the environment also protects human health.

Leading by example

Kelly Witter teaches an EPA-developed lesson on geology to students at an elementary school in Durham, N.C.

CE-STEM leaders Kelly Witter (CE-STEM founder and director) and AJ Blackburn (current CE-STEM outreach coordinator and ORAU National Student Services Contractor) embody the program’s focus on promoting environmental awareness through interactive, hands-on learning. After becoming a first-generation university graduate, Witter began her career at EPA researching indoor air quality in schools and was inspired to create the CE-STEM program when her own children were in public elementary school.

“As my three kids moved from daycare to elementary school, I noticed that many students in our public schools had limited exposure to STEM or understanding of the role environmental protection plays in keeping people healthy,” Witter said. “I kept thinking – someone should start a program that gets EPA staff into local schools to close this gap and encourages more diversity in the STEM and environmental professions. After a few years, I realized that I needed to be that somebody.”

While CE-STEM continually adapts to meet community needs, a cornerstone of Witter’s leadership approach has always been active participation. Her consistent involvement and direction of the program has grown CE-STEM into an esteemed community fixture that has won local, regional, and national awards including “Community Serving Organization of the Year” (given by Research Triangle Foundation in 2020) and “Excellence in Volunteer Experience and Volunteer Mobilization” (nationally awarded by US2020 in 2017).

As CE-STEM’s outreach coordinator, Blackburn uses her background in biology to develop and lead activities for the program. From donning waders to teach students about biodiversity, to delivering conference presentations for STEM educators, Blackburn’s enthusiasm for environmental education shines through her work with the program.

“CE-STEM is important to me,” Blackburn explained. “This program allows me to work one-on-one with students and witness changes in their attitudes toward science and protecting the environment.”

By the Numbers

With the help of EPA employee volunteers, CE-STEM has reached over 385,000 students, educators, and community members since 2004 through outreach at K-12 schools, universities, community events, and on the EPA-RTP campus.

From October 2023 – September 2024, 154 CE-STEM volunteers have reached over 18,000 people at events including: 49 school programs, 21 educator trainings, 24 community tabling events, 20 speed mentoring sessions, 22 career panels/fairs, 57 lab tours, and 48 building tours.

Community Ties Fuel Student Success

At the core of CE-STEM’s success lies a strong network of community partners and collaborators. By working closely with local organizations such as the North Carolina Museum of Life and Science, Durham Children’s Initiative, Kenan Fellows Program for Teacher Leadership, N.C. A&T University, and N.C. State University’s Catalyst program among many others, CE-STEM has expanded its reach and underlined its commitment to growing the next generation of STEM leaders.

Kelly Witter stands with former CE-STEM intern, Alonzo Brandon Alexander, at an outreach event (left). Former SSI participant, Bailey Recktenwald, gives a presentation to 2023 SSI students about her career in STEM (right).

In 2023 and 2024, several participants from the Catalyst program, which provides STEM opportunities for students with disabilities, participated in CE-STEM’s signature event the Environmental Summer Science Institute (SSI). The SSI is a free one-week program hosted annually on EPA-RTP’s campus since 2011. The SSI shares EPA’s mission through hands-on learning experiences, tours of campus facilities and labs, and networking with EPA employees. Valli, an SSI participant from the Catalyst program, fondly described SSI as “the best and most compassionate environmental program ever.”

Through the SSI and other programming, CE-STEM has inspired many students to pursue STEM careers. Alonzo Brandon Alexander credits the program for his choice to pursue an occupation in STEM.

“Being a part of EPA’s research apprenticeship program for minority high school students when I was a kid is the reason why I am so passionate about STEM outreach now,” Alexander shared. “The experience led me to get master’s degrees in physics and education, and my Ph.D. in STEM education.”

Former SSI participant, Bailey Recktenwald, was also inspired by CE-STEM to pursue a job as the N.C. Governor’s Climate Change Policy Advisor.

“The EPA Summer Science Institute and programs like it absolutely reinforced that I was interested in a career in climate and environmental policy,” Recktenwald said. “Seeing the impact that EPA has on furthering environmental research and developing policy helped me determine that I wanted to pursue a career in the environmental field, and specifically work in the public sector.”

Lessons for the Classroom and Community

Kelly Witter teaches EPA’s “Connecting Ecosystems and Human Health” activity to students on EPA-RTP’s campus.

CE-STEM uses EPA-developed educational activities to share EPA’s mission including Generate: The Game of Energy Choices, Connecting Ecosystems and Human Health, and the Building a Greenway case study. These activities leverage EPA tools to teach students about environmental science concepts and help them think critically about environmental issues in their own communities.

While CE-STEM is based in central North Carolina, the program episodically provides outreach and training to students, teachers, and non-formal educators throughout the U.S. In 2019, Witter spent three months in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as an Embassy Science Fellow, educating students, teachers, and non-formal government organizations about air pollution.

In addition to STEM topics like air quality, environmental justice plays a central role in CE-STEM’s activity roster. As Witter puts it, “Environmental awareness and access to knowledge is power. By providing STEM awareness and knowledge to low-income and minority populations, I believe we can begin to move toward more environmental justice on our planet.”

In 2024, CE-STEM spotlighted the history of the environmental justice movement by bringing the We Birthed the Movement exhibit to EPA-RTP’s campus, allowing hundreds of employees and visitors to view. CE-STEM also developed an interactive activity about the exhibit to engage participants in understanding the roots of the environmental justice movement and encourage exploration of the topic among peers.

To the Next 20 years

After two decades, CE-STEM still strives to find new ways to engage and inspire the next generation of environmental stewards. By fostering a love for science and the environment in countless students and providing access to STEM education, CE-STEM continues to bring EPA’s mission to communities in central North Carolina. Through dedicated leadership, knowledgeable and enthusiastic EPA volunteers, strong community partnerships and innovative programming, the program hopes to continue inspiring and educating future generations of STEM professionals for years to come.

As CE-STEM enters its third decade, Witter looks forward to connecting more EPA employees with students and the community, furthering the agency’s mission of protecting human health and the environment.

“Preparing future leaders to tackle our planet’s most pressing environmental challenges, such as climate change, and seeing the spark ignite when our employees engage with them in learning has been the most rewarding part of my career,” Witter said.

This article was written by Sarah Whichello, former Oak Ridge Associated Universities Research Participant with EPA, and EPA’s Carrie Holz.

Additional links and Information:

Select CE-STEM Awards:

Talent Development Award, Research Triangle Cleantech Cluster, 2023
Talent Initiative of the Year Award, Research Triangle Cleantech Cluster, 2020.
Community Serving Organization of the Year, Research Triangle Foundation, 2020.
Diversity in Cleantech Award, Research Triangle Cleantech Cluster, 2019
Excellence in Volunteer Experience & Volunteer Mobilization National Awards, US2020, 2017.
Goodmon Award for Leadership in STEM education in the Research Triangle Regional, 2016.
US2020-RTP STEM Industry Partner of the Year Award for significantly impacting RTP’s STEM community by increasing access to STEM school volunteers & on-site school visits, 2016.
U.S. EPA Office of Research & Development Diversity Award for efforts to embrace & promote diversity in the workplace & the community & fostering growth & development of scientists & engineers with diverse backgrounds, 2014.