By Travis Boren, reporter

The newly bonded STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) club is a recent addition to the PPCC extracurricular lineup, previously existing as the Mathematics club.

The club is driven by student club officers Anna Christiansen and Alondra Hauser.

Christiansen summarized the mission of the STEM club with three words: mentor, network, and prepare.

“We want students to make sure they have all of the resources needed to enter their field,” said Christiansen.

Hauser added that the club plans to help members prepare for interviews and find jobs.

The club is being set up to provide internships and help students create connections with professors. Christiansen and Hauser believe that professors can help you not only with your education, but with your career as well.

“Your professor might land you a job, so the connections they give us can help us,” said Hauser.

Christiansen and Hauser both stressed how important it is for them to empower women to join the club and enter STEM fields, noting that it was easy to see how outnumbered women are in STEM classrooms.

Currently STEM Club events take place at the Rampart Range campus, but Christiansen said they are hoping to expand to the other campuses in future semesters.

Christiansen also stressed that additional support from faculty at other campuses will be necessary to help the club expand.

As their inaugural event, the club hosted guest speaker Dr. Trini Garza, who worked for DuPont de Nemours Inc. for 31 years.

When Garza was explaining his education, someone asked him if he had ever blown anything up.

Garza said yes and explained that he was at his desk when he heard a loud boom and felt the building shake during his time at the Experimental Station in Wilmington, Delaware.

“I wonder if that was my stuff,” Garza said. The audience laughed.

“The easiest way to lose your job is to knowingly violate safety rules or procedures,” said Garza.

Upcoming events will take place off campus. The next field trip event is the Pikes Peak Regional Undergraduate Mathematics Conference at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (UCCS) on Feb. 26.

The STEM club has also reached out to the Robotics club for a joint meeting on March 9.

The next meeting will take place on Feb. 9 at 12:00p.m. in Room W101 at the Rampart Campus and will focus on Computer Science and a resume-building workshop.

Christiansen said anyone interested should bring a laptop or flash drive with their resume to the workshop.