As STEAM Ahead enters its fifth year of bringing science to life for young students in southern Ohio, the popular educational outreach program conducted by mentors from the Portsmouth Site expands into a second county.
Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office
April 29, 2025
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PIKETON, Ohio — As STEAM Ahead enters its fifth year of bringing science to life for young students in southern Ohio, the popular educational outreach program conducted by mentors from the Portsmouth Site expands into a second county.
In each of the past four years, the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management site added a school district in Pike County, Ohio, to the program. Now with all four Pike County school districts in STEAM Ahead, the Portsmouth Site has crossed county lines to add a school district in neighboring Scioto County for 2025. STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, arts and math.
“Adding a second county to our STEAM Ahead program is a testament to the importance of these types of learning opportunities in our schools,” Portsmouth Site Lead Jeremy Davis said. “It is great to see our employees interacting with students and helping them find the fun in learning, and maybe even getting the students to start thinking about a possible career.”
Jeremy Clark, principal of Valley Elementary School in Scioto County, says the STEAM Ahead expansion to the school is a great benefit for students.
“Programs like STEAM Ahead are incredibly helpful in encouraging students to get excited about learning because they bring the classroom to life in a way that traditional lessons sometimes can't,” said Clark. “By incorporating hands-on, interactive activities, students are able to see real world applications of what they're learning, which helps spark their curiosity. These programs show students that learning doesn't just happen in textbooks. It can be creative and a lot of fun.”
More than 50 mentors keep STEAM Ahead running. They include employees from Portsmouth Site contractors Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth, North Wind Dynamics and Enterprise Technical Assistance Services. Representatives from The Ohio State University, Ohio University, Shawnee State University, Pike County Solid Waste and Recycling, and the Electrical Training Academy also serve as program mentors.
From January through May each year, a team of mentors visits the schools to present to third and fourth grade classes. Each class has one STEAM Ahead day during the school year.
Students are organized into small groups to help ensure they get hands-on experiences and remain interactive during each of the program’s four 15-minute stations.
Inspired by the Washington State STEM Education Foundation’s “STEM Like ME!” Program, STEAM Ahead credits the support of the mentors and the community for the program’s ability to reach more students year after year.
“When we started with six mentors and one school, we were excited for the program’s potential growth,” said STEAM Ahead co-chair Tim Poe, who works as a nuclear operations director with Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth, the site’s deactivation and demolition contractor. “Now, just five years later, we are in two counties, five school districts, and have plans to continue this growth to provide opportunities for more southern Ohio students so they can learn about the possibilities and potential a career in science, technology, engineering, arts, and math can mean for their future.”
STEAM Ahead is one of several Portsmouth Site educational outreach programs. Others include the South Central Ohio Regional Science Bowl, Science Alliance, scholarships and internship programs.
-Contributor: Cindi Remy