Mentoring Students, and Closing the STEM Gap, Without Leaving the Office

As seen on US News, Charlene Lake, senior vice president public affairs and chief sustainability officer for AT&T, authored a blog post on how the business community can help to close the STEM skills gap by tapping the special skills of existing employees.

Charlene Lake says, "About one in five students does not graduate from high school with their class, according to data from the National Center for Education, and of those that do, many are not fully prepared to succeed in college and careers.

But mentoring by a caring adult can make a tremendous difference. At-risk young adults who have a mentor are more likely to go to college than those who don’t. Unfortunately, 16 million people will reach the age of 19 without ever having had a mentor, according to a new report by MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership.

The need exists, and we as a country have the capability to address it. We face a shortage in workers trained in science, technology, engineering and mathematics that threatens our global competitiveness. Yet, U.S. businesses of all sizes are chock full of underutilized STEM talent – people who could be used to mentor others and encourage them to join STEM fields. The business community can help close the STEM skills gap by tapping the special skills of existing employees. And technology can play a role."

Read the full blog post authored by Charlene Lake on US News.