Mount Pleasant Magazine March/April 2020

51 www.MountPleasantMagazine.com | www.ILoveMountPleasant.com | www.BestofMP.com feature D r. Mel Goodwin joined Laing Middle School in 2012 as the STEM coach and helped craft the curriculum for their award-winning STEM program. A former science and technology consultant for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Goodwin realized there was a need for hands-on experiences for young students, prompting him to “think globally and act locally.” Go Baby Go and Project Enable are two partnerships through which students help disabled children through engineering mobile units and 3D printing of prosthetic arms and hands. “There is incredible value in students having a real impact on someone else’s needs,” said Goodwin. Laing received the 2020 STEM School of Excellence Award by the International Technology and Engineering Educators Association. Goodwin added, “Laing’s success is due to two principals who recognized there is a gap in pipeline workforce skills, the faculty who stepped out of their comfort zone and the parents who helped provide the resources we needed.” .MountPleasant agazine.co | w .ILove ountPleasant.co | w w.BestOf . Photo by Juli Kaplan.