Cultivating young STEM leaders in Bladen County

A’llayah Jarmon, in green t-shirt, participates in a program on board Extension at A&T’s Innovation Station. The mobile STEM classroom came to Bladen County in August 2019 for the annual robotics camp hosted by the Down East 4-H Club. The camp was one of the stops on a tour of Extension programs in eastern North Carolina by N.C. A&T leaders.

“Because of 4H, I’ve Been to Places I Never Thought I’d See” 

CARVERS CREEK – By participating in 4-H, A’llayah Jarmon has been able to explore her interests in science, robotics, programming and other subjects that fall under the general heading of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

But perhaps more importantly, her 4-H experiences have nudged her out of her comfort zone, requiring the naturally introverted teen to speak in front of large groups and collaborate with her peers as part of the process of becoming a statewide teen leader.

“I am more of a one-on-one person,” said the 18-year-old who recently graduated from Columbus Career and College Academy in Columbus County. “4-H has pushed me out of the little bubble I was comfortable in. That’s been beneficial, but it’s been a little bit of a struggle too.”

Jarmon is one of two members of the Down East 4-H Club who has earned the title of 4-H Teen Leader in STEM. In a little more than a year, she and fellow 4-H member Jalil Hayes, who will start East Bladen High School in the fall, have risen to become statewide leaders who attend national conferences and teach STEM projects to their 4-H peers across the state.

N.C. A&T Chancellor Harold L. Martin Sr., center, takes time for a photo with Down East 4-H members A’llayah Jarmon, left, and Jalil Hayes, right, during the club’s summer robotics camp in August 2019. The camp was one of the stops on the tour of Extension programs in Eastern North Carolina.

“It’s been amazing,” said Hayes, 14. “Because of 4-H I’ve been to places I never thought I’d see. I’ve been to Utah, I’ve been to Alabama for space camp (NASA Space Camp at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center), and I’ve seen a lot more of North Carolina.” 

Hayes also had to break out of his comfort zone by doing public presentations to large groups.

“It’s helped me with public speaking,” he said. “Now, I think it’s fun to learn from watching other people’s presentations and from critiquing myself.”

The pathway from typical teenager to statewide leader began for both youth with the Down East 4-H Club, a particularly active group in the Carvers Creek area of Bladen County sponsored by Tabernacle Believers Holiness Church and led by Luella Wills, a 4-H leader who works diligently to expose her members to STEM activities, leadership experiences and community service.

For the last three years, the Down East Club has hosted a 4-H robotics day camp program for local youth ages 5 to 18. The two-day summer camp gives the young participants the chance to build and program their own robots and to experience other 4-H STEM resources, such as Innovation Station, a mobile STEM lab and collaboration space equipped with laptops, iPads, 3D printers and a laser cutter.

“In rural communities, children often don’t have enrichment activities like this,” said Wills, who became a member of the Strategic Planning Council for Cooperative Extension at N.C. A&T this year. “These kinds of activities are normally held in bigger towns. I wanted the kids in our community to have access to STEM activities right here, without having to travel.”

Wills knew that 4-H offered a robotics curriculum, and she reached out to Stacie Kinlaw, the 4-H agent in Bladen County, to have the program offered locally. The collaboration has worked. Kinlaw provides the robotics curriculum and equipment, and the Down East 4-H club leaders and Tabernacle Church provide the space, the local youth and volunteers. 

From Robotics Camp to Space Camp and More 

The robotics camp experience resulted in Hayes applying to be a participant in the NASA Space Camp. With financial support from Cooperative Extension at N.C. A&T, he attended the week-long camp in 2018 just before starting seventh grade. In 2019, Misty Blue-Terry, Ph.D., 4-H STEM specialist at N.C. A&T, recommended Hayes and Jarmon for Pathways to Computer Science, an online training program supported by Google that gives 4-H’ers the chance to delve deeply into computer science topics and develop the skills needed for technical careers.

Both teens have participated in National Youth Science Day through the Down East Club, an annual initiative designed to build confidence in youth while sparking an interest in computer science and other STEM disciplines. The initiative provides participants with a “challenge kit” that includes all the materials needed to participate in the activity and instructions for facilitators. In 2019, the theme for National Youth Science Day was Game Changers, a challenge aimed at teaching computer science and problem solving by creating games. Both Jarmon and Hayes served as facilitators, teaching other teen leaders how to present the program so they could go back to their own communities and participate in the challenge with their 4-H clubs.

In July 2019, both youths participated in the statewide 4-H Congress, an annual educational event that brings together about 600 youth representing every county in North Carolina. Earlier in the year, they attended the Pathways to Computer Science conference in Salt Lake City, which focused on teaching participants computer science activities that they could take back to their home communities to teach. They learned teaching and leadership skills and earned the official designation of 4-H STEM teen leaders for North Carolina. Jarmon and Hayes had the chance to teach computer science concepts to their peers at various conferences and to about 30 Bladen County youth before the COVID-19 pandemic halted in-person activities.

The best part of becoming a STEM teen leader and teaching computer science basics, said Hayes, is that moment when you realize your students understand the concepts you are teaching.

“When you see that light go on in their faces, that’s the best part,” he said. “Then you know they understand.”

Jarmon agreed. “The reward is when they don’t need me anymore,” she said. “They understand it and it’s really nice to see the looks on their faces.”

Although Jarmon and Hayes are the most notable examples of teen leaders from the Down East 4-H Club, Kinlaw said the club led by Wills routinely builds leadership and STEM skills in its members, and that builds the confidence needed for future success.

“Confidence and motivation are so important in this age group, and I see that in these two students and in many of the Down East 4-H’ers,” she said. “These kids have grown up in a rural, low-income county, where opportunities are often limited. 4-H exposes them to opportunities that the county’s educational system couldn’t provide. Our schools just don’t have the resources, it’s that simple.”

Wills said the 4-H experience gives her young club members the chance to dig into their interests more deeply.

“They may have learned about robots in school, but in our robotics camp, they put their hands on them, they build them and program them,” she said. “All that hands-on activity and responsibility develops self-confidence.”

As for the STEM teen leaders, Jarmon plans to continue her education as a freshman in the N.C. A&T College of Engineering in the fall. She hopes to turn her interest in technology into a career in either architectural engineering or graphic design. Hayes said his knowledge of computer science and programming will help him in high school and eventually in the job market.

“More and more jobs involve computer science and it will help me to have that base,” he said. “I like programming. It’s fun to solve the problems, and when you test your solution and it actually works, that is really fun.”