Beaufort County Police Activities League recently coordinated a STEM Career Day for 350 seventh-grade students. The all-day event was hosted by the Beaufort County Community College at their Allied Health Science Building. The participating students were from various middle schools in Beaufort County including Aurora, Belhaven, Chocowinity and Washington. Students from the United Christian Academy in Chocowinity, also attended. This is the fifth year that BCCC has hosted this event with this year’s event being the largest to date.

The Aurora-based Nutrien (formally PotashCorp) has been a significant participant in this STEM event since it started. This year was no exception. They brought a variety of laboratory test equipment and four employees to allow the students to gain a “hands-on” understanding and appreciation of the type engineering and technology jobs that Nutrien has to offer. The Nutrien presenters at the event were Sonya Langston and Martez Cratch (process development technicians), and Angela Carbonell and John Walker (senior engineers — process development).

Other guest organizations that participated included the National Air and Space Administration, DSM-Greenville and the Beaufort County Community College Allied Health Science Department. Numerous outdoor activities were also planned; however, inclement weather caused all of those activities to be cancelled. The event was still the most successful to date.