With support from Battelle’s Pacific NW Laboratory, the Tri-Cities are scraping pennies to open the region’s first public STEM High School in September 2009. The school will provide a world-class science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education to 400 9th-12th graders (any Tri-Cities student will be eligible to enroll). 

While school district leaders from Kennewick, Richland and Pasco hoped to be recruiting the school’s first 100 freshmen by now, they are struggling to raise the last $300,000 necessary to renovate a facility donated by Columbia Basin College to house the school. If the money doesn’t materialize in the next few weeks, the first day of school will be postponed until 2010.

This would be a shame. The Tri-Cities STEM High School would help our young people gain the skills they need to succeed in today’s world—the ability to solve complex problems, think critically  and drive advancements in science and technology. Equipping the next generation with these vital 21st Century Skills is the smartest investment we can make in our state’s economic competitiveness. 

Washington cannot afford to hedge this investment, particularly in these tough economic times. Science and engineering jobs are growing 70 percent faster than other occupations. In a state that takes pride in calling Microsoft, Boeing and Amazon "hometown heroes,” we’re going to have to dramatically ramp up the number of highly skilled STEM workers to keep these companies in our backyard. 

Current higher education degree production in WA will meet only 67 percent of the expected annual job openings from 2009 – 2014 in engineering, 56 percent in computer science and 65 percent in the medical profession.

Making STEM fields attractive to young people will pay multiple dividends. Students will be well-equipped to succeed in college and have strong employment prospects, while the Tri-Cities region and WA will be paving the way for long-term economic prosperity.