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Middle Schoolers Think Big: WPI Ambassadors Spark STEM Career Dreams

08:02 PM, 12/01/2025

WPI’s Engineering Ambassadors bring middle school students to campus for hands-on STEM activities in response to MCAS results showing only a third of eighth-graders meeting science expectations. Guided by more than 40 college volunteers, visitors build projects like model roller coasters to learn concepts such as potential and kinetic energy. The program sparks new career ambitions among students while giving ambassadors mentorship and presentation experience.

Getting middle school students excited about science is a persistent challenge — and one with growing urgency. Recent MCAS results show only about one-third of the state’s eighth-graders met or exceeded expectations in science, underscoring the need for engaging, hands-on outreach.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Engineering Ambassadors program brings younger students to campus for interactive STEM activities designed to make concepts tangible and career paths visible.

“We want our middle school students to understand what STEM is and understand that what they might want to do is STEM. Oftentimes, we hear from our students, ‘I want to be a video game designer, but I didn’t know that was STEM.’ We really make that connection here by doing activities like they’re doing today,”

— James Guaragna, associate director of pre-collegiate outreach at WPI

During a recent visit, students from Clinton Middle School spent a full day on WPI’s campus building model roller coasters. The project offered a memorable demonstration of potential and kinetic energy while giving participants a chance to see college life first-hand — touring labs, eating in the dining hall, and learning the basics of applying to higher education.

After the workshop, several students said the experience broadened their ideas about future careers. Student Myles Michaud said he now hopes to become an electrical engineer, while Freya Bech said the visit put a career at NASA on her radar.

WPI students serving as ambassadors gain valuable skills as well. Emma St. Clair, a mechanical engineering student, said volunteering has improved her presentation and mentoring abilities and allowed her to share her passion for engineering with younger learners. Electrical and computer engineering major Aidan Civittolo described the program as a way to combine his engineering interests with the chance to give back.

Guaragna — a first-generation college graduate himself — pointed to the program’s long-term impact. He recalled a former ambassador who first encountered STEM through a middle-school visit; that experience inspired her to attend WPI and now she’s working in Boston.

Harold Ogilvie, a teacher at Clinton Middle School, noted the power of near-peer role models: students often tune out adults but listen closely to college volunteers who make STEM feel accessible and relevant.

More than 40 WPI students volunteer as Engineering Ambassadors, collectively hosting roughly 3,600 middle-school visitors each year. The program aims to build confidence, expand students’ understanding of STEM career possibilities, and help undecided or first-generation students see a path to higher education.

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