STEM programs nurture seeds of curiosity

A growing number of students like to code, tinker and design, and a new business sector is eager to teach them how.

Zaniac in Greenwich and The Digital Arts Experience in White Plains offer science, engineering, technology and math classes to school-age students in Fairfield and Westchester counties. Both programs opened within the past three years and are expanding operations to accommodate increased enrollment and demand.

The respective owners said their programs supplement school curriculums and help youths develop problem-solving skills, preparing them to one day join a workforce that increasingly requires a technological background.


Rob Kissner in the DAExpress, the Digital Arts Experience”™s mobile classroom. Photo by Danielle Brody

Bruce Carlson, president and CEO of the Connecticut Technology Council, said there is a gap between the available skilled workforce and what state technology companies need to fuel their growth. In a spring 2014 survey, 50 of its member technology companies reported 3,000 jobs would be available in the next year and a half. U.S. Rep Nita Lowey, D-Harrison, said in a statement recently there are 2,500 unfilled jobs in Westchester County requiring a STEM education, in fields such as health care and software engineering.

“Kids with a STEM background are going to be critical,” Carlson said.

He said studies show youths have an interest in the subject around fifth and sixth grades and it starts to wane in ninth grade. Even though schools in the U.S. are starting to increase STEM exposure, most do not focus on it because of the regular curriculum in place, Carlson said. In the U.K. students learn to code starting in kindergarten, he said.

After-school programs allow students to pursue their interests while their minds are fertile and they are receptive to learning about the subject, Carlson said.

Flavia Naslausky, co-owner of Zaniac, part of a Utah-based STEM-education franchise, said being foreign-educated, she and co-owner Camilla Gazal realized math education in the U.S. “wasn”™t up to speed with the rest of the world.” They opened the first East Coast franchise of Zaniac on Putnam Avenue in December 2013. Both are mothers who grew up in Brazil and have professional backgrounds in finance.

The brightly colored Zaniac open campus offers classes in the company”™s math curriculum, computer programming, live robotics, 3-D printing, tinkering, game design, Minecraft and touch typing after school and at summer camp, Gazal said.

About 500 Zaniac students have come through in the past 18 months, the owners said. Going into the summer, about 250 youths are signed up for camp, a more than 100 percent increase from their first summer last year, Gazal said. They also partner with schools.

Naslausky and Gazal said they expected students to come from Greenwich, but they”™re seeing enrollment from as far as New York City. They plan to open a new location in the Westport/Fairfield area by the end of the summer in time for the coming school year.

Rob Kissner, president and CEO of the three-year-old Digital Arts Experience on Hamilton Avenue in downtown White Plains, said enrollment has increased as have requests from schools to conduct classes on-site. Last summer he outfitted a truck with tables, seats and Macbooks that can host 10 students and an instructor.

When the DAE staff taught classes at schools, students did not have the same experience because their schools have varying levels of equipment.

“We figured if we could bring our teachers, our curriculum, our classroom, we”™d kind of even the playing field,” Kissner said.

The DAE offers classes in computer programming, electronics, 3-D printing, modeling, Minecraft, animation, graphic design, photography, game design and more. Nearly every class, except those involving a studio, which is on-site, can be taught on the truck, he said.

“It was basically booked before we even had it,” Kissner said.

He said this spring the truck held about 25 classes during the week and was popular for birthday parties. Now the DAE does about half its classes on-site and half on the truck. Kissner is considering buying another truck based on demand in the fall.

The truck is helpful for schools, he said, because although they are putting more emphasis on STEM, they”™re slow to incorporate the subjects into the curriculum.

Meg KÃ¤ufer, president of the STEM Alliance of Larchmont-Mamaroneck, a nonprofit that connects schools and people with STEM resources, said it is important for youngsters to get involved at an early age because it is when they”™re at their creative peak.


Camilla Gazal and Flavia Naslausky, co-owners of Zaniac in Greenwich.

“Their minds are more nimble and more flexible,” KÃ¤ufer said. “They”™re more willing to be open to solutions. ”¦ STEM learning demands those skill sets when it”™s done well. We believe it will lead to a more nimble and more flexible workforce we think is critical for the future of our nation.”

Even if young students don”™t go into a STEM field, having an understanding of, for example, HTML will be a valuable skill, Kissner said. At the DAE they also learn to use tools to break down large projects into steps, prototype and test. They also often collaborate with other students on their own.

Naslausky said students are more likely to be creative at Zaniac compared with school. “There is no wrong answer, there is no testing at Zaniac,” she said. “They”™re more comfortable with taking risks, getting things wrong.”

She said Zaniac students enjoy the classes because they are game-based and instructors are well-rounded high school and college students chosen for their potential to be role models for the younger students.

While some students come to Zaniac because their parents enrolled them, the owners have noticed the students are inviting their friends to join. The classes attract youths who also have other hobbies like sports, art and music.

“It doesn”™t feel like school ”” it”™s very dynamic space where there”™s a lot of sharing and debating going around,” Naslausky said. “It”™s become a place where kids like to meet and like to hang out with their friends.”

KÃ¤ufer said students with a strong interest in STEM used to have to wait until college to meet similar-minded people.

“There are a lot of kids for whom this is an interest and they”™re doing it alone,” she said. “These after-school programs are critical for their identity development.”