3-D printer company offers students aclose-up look into technology careers

High school student Elijah Rosalez inspects a 3-D printed steering wheel, commenting on how heavy it is. Photo from

Matt Weber/Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS.

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota — Employees of Stratasys Ltd. were busy this month. They

dashed to dozens of Twin Cities schools to introduce 3,500 students to the wonderment of

3-D printing.

Stratasys creates 3-D printers and 3-D production systems.

The Stratasys school-visit marathon was the company's first large-scale effort to instantly

reach out to thousands of students. They want to help get students excited about the fields

of science, technology, engineering and math. These subjects are referred to collectively

as STEM. The project had a big finish with 93 students visiting the company's

headquarters. The visit was arranged in partnership with the national black college sorority

Delta Sigma Theta.

By Star Tribune, adapted by Newsela staff on 04.26.17

Word Count 723

Level 1030L

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"So many kids and teachers and principals are intrigued about 3-D printing because they

see it on TV, but a lot of times they don't get to engage with it. This changes that," said

Jesse Roitenberg. He is Stratasys' national education manager. "3-D printing makes sense

to people when they can touch and feel and hold it," Roitenberg said.

Stratasys Employees Visited 31 Different Schools

In the past, Stratasys employees occasionally visited their children's schools for career

day. But for this outreach week, they invited anyone in the company to go out to a school

and talk about what they do with 3-D printing.

About 80 employees helped with the effort that reached 31 schools. Each volunteer had an

educational kit, videos and some fun 3-D printed products. The plan was to introduce kids

to the technology and what a career in manufacturing and engineering could look like.

The teens that visited Stratasys came from nine different schools. They were all part of the

Deltas' Empowering Males to Build Opportunities for Developing Independence Scholars,

or EMBODI program. The program is dedicated to helping young African-American males

reach their potential in education and in life. During the visit, the students gawked,

squinted, pulled and giggled while using Stratasys design software and printers to convert

digital drawings into 3-D salt shakers.

Stratasys is a big company with $672 million in earnings every year. It normally sells its

large printing machines to manufacturers such as Airbus, Siemens, Ford Motor Co., Tesla

and other big companies.

Learning More About What 3-D Products Can Do

Three-dimensional technology has grown into a $6 billion industry. However, the students

of today are "key to taking 3-D printing to a whole new level," said Rich Garrity, who is the

president of Stratasys in North and South America.

While listening, Ronelle Porter, a 15-year-old high school student, scanned a table of

sample products. Ronelle grabbed a 3-D printed steering wheel and pretended to race it.

He thumped a 3-D printed brake pedal to test its strength.

Nearby, Demond Bryant Jr., age 16, felt the model of a heart that doctors had practiced on

before doing actual surgery.

"I've never had this much of a hands-on experience with 3-D printing," he said. "I didn't

know about its medical applications before. This is pretty cool."

In the station next door, Caleem Williams pressure-washed a freshly printed velociraptor

head. He watched as inches of molding gel slid off. That left him with a sharp-toothed little

beast that became a keepsake key chain.

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Partnership Is A Big Success

"These are cool. I've never seen this before in person. If I wasn't told this was 3-D printed,

you would never know," said Caleem, 17. Now he can't wait for his school to get a 3-D

printer so he can make diorama models for his anatomy class. Chaperones for the day

were black principals, engineers and financial experts from other companies such as 3M,

Medtronic, Optum, Bank of America, Ritchie Engineering, robotics firm CZX Solutions and

Delta Sigma Theta.

"I know this is supposed to be for the kids, but this is just fantastic," said Michael Roberts

from Optum as he peered through 3-D printed truck-engine housings. "I'm as excited

about this as they are."

Miquel McMoore, who tries to find people to join Stratasys, arranged the partnership with

Delta EMBODI. The Deltas have several programs for girls. The EMBODI effort for boys,

however, is in its third year, she said.

"I have been with Stratasys for two years. And this company fits exactly what EMBODI is,"

she said. "We are very STEM-focused."

Pleased that the students learned so much and had so much fun, "we will do this again,"

she said.

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Quiz

1 Read the paragraphs from the section "Stratasys Employees Visited 31 Different Schools."

The teens that visited Stratasys came from nine different schools. They

were all part of the Deltas' Empowering Males to Build Opportunities

for Developing Independence Scholars, or EMBODI program. The

program is dedicated to helping young African-American males reach

their potential in education and in life. During the visit, the students

gawked, squinted, pulled and giggled while using Stratasys design

software and printers to convert digital drawings into 3-D salt shakers.

Stratasys is a big company with $672 million in earnings every year. It

normally sells its large printing machines to manufacturers such as

Airbus, Siemens, Ford Motor Co., Tesla and other big companies.

HOW do the paragraphs MOST contribute to the article?

(A) They focus on the success of Stratasys and name its biggest customers.

(B) They describe what Stratasys does and how it worked with the EMBODI

program.

(C) They identify why the teens from EMBODI were so interested in 3-D printing.

(D) They explain why Stratasys decided to sell its technology to large

manufacturers.

2 Read the section "Partnership Is A Big Success."

WHY does the author include information about the chaperones?

(A) to show that most chaperones were principals

(B) to highlight the support offered by businesses

(C) to reassure the reader that the students were safe during the trip

(D) to encourage more people to chaperone in the future

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3 Read the selection from the introduction [paragraphs 1-4].

The Stratasys school-visit marathon was the company's first large-

scale effort to instantly reach out to thousands of students. They want

to help get students excited about the fields of science, technology,

engineering and math. These subjects are referred to collectively as

STEM.

Which of the following options BEST explains the meaning of the word "collectively"?

(A) side by side

(B) publicly

(C) exclusively

(D) as a group

4 Read the sentence from the section "Stratasys Employees Visited 31 Different Schools."

They were all part of the Deltas' Empowering Males to Build

Opportunities for Developing Independence Scholars, or EMBODI

program.

Which option is the BEST definition of the word "empowering" as used in the acronym?

(A) strengthening

(B) motivating

(C) allowing

(D) identifying

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 5