Want a fun way to bring the community together to your campus AND have all the planning and resources already prepared?
BioNetwork has the program for you!
A Community STEM Event is designed to engage STEM enthusiasts of all ages through inquiry-based hands-on activities. We have done the work developing activities and materials. We will provide ALL the materials and training. The only things we'll need from you is a location and some volunteers!
Fall 2025 Update:
Aligned with our mission to expand access to high-quality STEM education, particularly in under-resourced communities, we are focusing our in-person outreach on programs that most closely reflect this goal. To be considered for a Community STEM Event, please complete our brief Interest Form.
You may be asking, why the change? Our programs are generously funded by the State of North Carolina and are provided to the public at no cost. This support has allowed us to reach over 16,000 students, educators, and families in the past fiscal year through targeted professional development, E.A.S.E. programming, summer camps, and complementary educational initiatives in collaboration with community colleges and partners across the state. Requests for our services have been increasing exponentially so, in keeping with our ongoing commitment to serving K–12 schools and communities with limited access to educational STEM resources, we are prioritizing in-person event requests that most closely align with our mission while maximizing the talents and resources of our small team of staff.
While we may not be able to accommodate every in-person request, we invite you to explore our wide range of free STEM resources by scrolling down to learn more, or visiting the Learn Now section of our website for engaging science learning apps, videos, and more!
The creation of a robust K-12 STEM pipeline has been widely identified as critical to economic development in North Carolina.
- The state has 810+ life science companies in more than half of our 100 counties employing 75,000+ people
Source: NCBiotech Company Directory, 2023 - In 2021, there were approximately 6,500 NEW HIRES in Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing alone
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2021
This means we need a constant source of skilled, and highly capable talent. Building a strong bridge, between education and careers, requires collaboration among industry, schools, educators, and families. Hosting a Community STEM Event showcases your facility and staff while engaging the participants in a fun experiential environment.
For Industry
Highlight your products while introducing potential careers to students and job seeking adults alike.
For Community Colleges
Community STEM Events increase the comfort level of non-traditional and first-generation students visiting your campus to learn about programs. Children can also see your college as a potential educational pathway.
For K-12 Schools
Create a fun learning opportunity while also presenting career pathways to students!
Ultimately, an event like this can create a rapport with those in your community. Industries, community colleges, and schools are encouraged to collaborate and co-host an event.
This event is designed to be run as stations, which enables participants to freely move between different hands-on activities. At each station, the participants engages with your volunteers who provide guidance and answer questions as needed. Volunteers will be provided instructions and training prior to the event. We also encourage you to invite other members of the organization to provide stations with information highlighting organizational projects and programs.
If you've never hosted a STEM event before and aren't sure where to start, check out our Community STEM Event Checklist. Initially designed for our Community College partners, it is also applicable for other venues and organizations.
What activities are available?
Events are fully customizable and we have MANY activities to choose allowing your event to be as big or small as needed! BioNetwork staff will help you with activity selection process and will help with any planning and preparation questions.
If you are a North Carolina Community College that may be interested in hosting an NC Science Festival event in April please watch the recording of our information session below.
More information is available on the NC Science Festival website: ncsciencefestival.org
Registration to request a set of activities to help host your own NC SciFest event from BioNetwork is CLOSED for 2025. We will open registration for 2026 in the Fall!
The theme for 2025 is "Everyday. Everywhere. Everyone." We are hoping to show STEM is all around us and in many jobs people don't expect! We encourage Community Colleges to invite programs like HVAC, welding, and cosmetology (just to name a few examples) to have an information table to show that science, technology, engineering, and math are applied to many types of jobs and careers. It's a bonus if they can provide a hands-on component!
Ready to start planning?
Check out the SciFest Planning Checklist!
Our outreach programs include classroom visits, faculty training workshops, and career fairs that help connect bioscience industry skills with K12 and community college STEM education.
Contact us at engage@ncbionetwork.org for more information.
Courtney Behrle, Senior Director of STEM Outreach
252-493-7299
