Features

Seventh and eighth grade Career Development students attend Steelers/Shell STEM Program

Mila Bair, Photography Editor

December 3, 2024

The Shell workers and Arthur Moats lined up for a photo after the presentation.

On Oct. 30, the seventh and eighth grade students in Career Development attended a presentation from the Steelers/Shell STEM Program. In this presentation, students learned about the careers Shell workers have and what they needed to do to get there. The students also met former Steelers linebacker Arthur Moats and three Shell workers.

“The Steelers were one of my favorite teams to play with,” said Arthur Moats. Arthur Moats was the linebacker for the Steelers for four years, from 2014 to 2017. “My favorite part was the family feel that we had. Everyone on the team knew each other very well.” After Moats retired in 2019, he joined the Steelers/Shell STEM Program.

“From an early age, I liked STEM, and I felt that with the platform I have, it’s rewarding to show people that STEM is actually cool. My favorite part of this program is the interactions with the students. Seeing how they can get excited about things that most students don’t think about too often.” Moats said. “STEM is used in many other things, especially sports. The biggest advice I have is to not be afraid to fail. Everybody who is successful has taken a chance and ended up coming up short. Ask questions, get as involved as you can, and use those experiences, and ultimately that’s going to make you your best self.”

“This was very beneficial to the kids. Their participation was amazing, and one of the things that surprised me was how into the kids are with what they want to do.” Mr. Ron Kelm, middle school Career Development teacher, stated. “The program noticed we’ve done EverFi and the Endeavor Program for the last few years, and they saw that we’ve done both so much that we deserved [the presentation.] We had one of the two highest usages in EverFi out of all the schools that do it, so that is how we got the Steelers/Shell STEM program at our school.”

Said Kelm.

“I’m not sure if they will come to our school again, it depends on the EverFi statuses we have and how much we are using it.” Mr. Kelm stated. “I was very proud of the students for being respectful, but also showing their excitement and asking many questions. I would’ve liked to have a bit more one-on-one time, but overall it went great. Arthur Moats was so engaging, and stayed and signed and took pictures as much as the kids wanted. I was really pleasantly surprised because he didn’t have to do any of that.”

About the Contributors

Mila Bair, Photography Editor

My name is Mila Bair, and I am in seventh grade. I am the Student Life editor for the yearbook, the Photography editor for the newspaper, and the secretary for the yearbook. This is my third year in journalism. I enjoy sharing news of our school to other students, and I’m looking forward to writing about events and news of the school once again this year. I’m in a lot of activities and clubs, such as Junior High cheerleading, Yearbook, FHS Drama Club, Pep Club, GATE, science club, etc, and I am in Honors ELA and eighth grade Honors Math. When I grow up, I would like to be an engineer.

Lily Tyler, Writer

Hi, my name is Lily Tyler and I am in eighth grade. My position for the newspaper staff is writer. I have been part of Bulldog Barker for four years. I like Bulldog Barker because it helps other people get information about their school and gives opportunities to people. I play basketball, soccer, volleyball, and softball. When I grow up and graduate from high school, I would like to go to college at Pitt. In my free time, I like to go on walks in the woods, camping, fishing, and other activities. I have a family of six, three sisters, and two dogs.