Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation opens new STEM center at Tinicum School featuring drones and free technology

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The legacy of Baltimore Orioles Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Sr. endures through sons Cal Ripken Jr. and Billy Ripken, who co-founded the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation (CRSF) to help at-risk youth in sports. The brothers are expanding their initiatives in Pennsylvania to improve educational opportunities for children via a newly launched STEM center.

“We’re having really good success reaching kids in many different ways through sports,” Ripken Jr. said.

The CRSF now operates seven STEM centers across Pennsylvania, with the newest center opening at Tinicum School in Essington last week. The foundation provides free access to STEM technology to 260,000 kids and thousands of teachers across the country. CRSF boasts more than 624 STEM centers in 26 states.

The foundation expanded its mission to include STEM education, aiming to prepare students for careers in science, technology, engineering and math following a board member’s suggestion. Ripken Jr. explained that the technology program began in Pennsylvania and the addition of STEM has been successful ever since.

“We saw the excitement generated by it and we thought we could end up doing it and all of a sudden it caught fire,” said Ripken Jr.

The opening ceremony at the Tinicum School STEM center is the most recent example of the foundation’s evolving mission from sports to STEM education. The transformational shift in the foundation’s focus was made possible through partnerships with the Exelon Foundation and PECO.

“It’s a very important part of the educational process,” Ripken Jr. said. “For energy companies and engineering fields, you want to get the young minds thinking about this stuff early. It was something we stepped into, something we had success with, and it’s really helped with our overall service to kids.”

The new STEM center will provide education and training to more than 300 students. The program site will receive a Ripken Foundation Mobile STEM Center Toolkit that includes a long list of high-tech gadgets. The Sphere BOLT power pack, which is an advanced round-coding robotic ball, and a 3D printer are new features.

Tello Drones will be used to help kids learn the basics of coding through a mobile coding app. Other technology that will aid instruction include a Snap Circuits Educational Series that can be customized for the needs of the individual program site and a programmable computer chip that connects coding and practical applications.

STEM careers can lead students to earn higher salaries, but it isn’t always accessible for all children to pursue STEM programs or careers.

“Most Americans believe K-12 STEM education in the United States is either average or below average compared with other wealthy nations,” according to an April 2024 Pew Research Center survey.

The study also revealed that “recent global standardized test scores show that students in the U.S. are, in fact, lagging behind their peers in other wealthy nations when it comes to math,” but are doing better than average in science compared with pupils in other countries.

The foundation is for all students but it places centers in neighborhoods handpicked because they don’t have access to technology education or abundant financial resources. Ripken Jr. explained, “A lot of our centers are in rural (or inner-city) areas.”

Joe Rossow, executive vice president of STEM and outcome measurements at the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation, noted that “rural areas don’t have that tax base… it’s hard for them to get new equipment, and new furniture and new things.”

In a 2021 report, Pew research also revealed that “Black and Hispanic workers remain underrepresented in the STEM workforce compared with their share of all workers.” The research stated that while women make up half of those employed in STEM jobs, most are in health-related careers. Women are underrepresented in other occupations, according to the report.

The foundation aims to help level the field and alter the stigma that prevents students from entering STEM-related careers. Rossow said they have seen an increase in girls showing interest in their STEM center programs. An analysis of application data from students in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Maryland found that 60% of female students had a higher increase in STEM engagement, 53% of female students had a higher percentage of STEM enjoyment and 50% of female students’ chances increased to enter STEM careers.

“Some of our female students had an increase in critical thinking as problem solvers and after that study, we didn’t realize it (the centers) really had an impact on our female engineers,” Rossow said.

The foundation’s mission is to partner with youth-serving organizations and schools across the country to provide educational life skills curriculum.

A mission that Ripken Sr. believed in wholeheartedly, according to Ripken Jr.

In Pennsylvania, STEM centers have opened at Saint Aloysius Parish School in Pottstown, Scott Sixth Grade Center in Coatesville, Delta-Peach Bottom Elementary in Delta, Robert K. Shafer Middle School in Bensalem, Feltonville School of Arts & Sciences and Avery Harrington School in Philadelphia.

The organization plans to open more centers in the future.