Army Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Bostick, commanding general of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, told the students gathered at Ashurst Elementary School that his workforce and those of other science, technology, engineering and math firms will need them badly in the future.

By 2018, he said, 2.8 million STEM-related jobs will open. At the same time, the United States now produces a lower percentage of college graduates in STEM fields than all but 14 countries in the world, with only six out of every 100 ninth-graders going on to earn these degrees. What’s more, he said, for every 100 graduates in STEM fields, only 10 are women, and only five are black.

“We must have a diverse engineer force to get the right answers,” Bostick said. “We want young boys and girls to be excited and passionate about STEM.”

Hence, a new partnership between the Army Corps of Engineers and Department of Defense Education Activity, aimed at bringing these subjects to life in military classrooms.

Bostick, along with Marilee Fitzgerald, director of the Department of Defense Education Activity, and Sue Engelhardt, director of human resources for the Army Corps of Engineers, were at Ashurst on May 20 to announce and formally sign a memorandum of understanding between DODEA and USACE, whereby USACE employees will work on projects with DODEA teachers and students, culminating in competitions twice a year. A specific civil works project or other function of the Corps of Engineers will serve as a model for each project, developed in line with the military school system’s STEM curriculum.

Bostick quoted Presidential Medal of Freedom winner Frances Hesselbein, who once said the two institutions that have sustained American democracy are the military and public education, and he said he was pleased to be working on this project at the intersection of those two, where he also had received his education, in Department of Defense schools.

“I owe much to ‘DODs’ education and to the educators that sent me on a strong path based on a foundation of education,” Bostick said, calling the partnership “absolutely the right thing we should be doing.”

While the Corps of Engineers has worked before to challenge students, Engelhardt said, this is the first time its engineers have joined forces so closely with educators to create fun and educational projects for students.

“We’re really excited about engaging our military family members and making sure each of you considers a career in STEM,” she said.

The speakers and the many other school, base and Army officials gathered for the meeting also got a chance to check out projects made by STEM Club members at all three of the base’s schools, including the wheeled robot that guided the speakers to their seats when they arrived. This had prompted Bostick to crack, “We’ve never been escorted by a robot to our seats — I’ve been escorted by people who seem like robots, though.”