CIP proposal will fund science, technology lab for city youth

That’s why the Capital Improvements Program Extension has $15 million allocated for a Discovery Lab, what Mayor Stan Booker calls the working name for an investment designed to give youth a setting to encourage their interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

It’s an idea that came from the STEM consortium, a grassroots-level entity comprised of educational, youth, non-profit organizations and other representatives who are making recommendations on funding designed from Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts specifically for STEM initiatives.

Boiled down to its simplest component, Discovery Lab is “STEM stuff,” Booker said, of a facility that will focus on STEM courses while complementing plans FISTA Innovation Park already has set into motion to build a STEM classroom of its own to provide practical applications of technology, math and other subjects for youth working with military defense contract employees in FISTA.

Booker said Lawton’s concept is based on Science Museum Oklahoma in Oklahoma City and Tulsa’s Discovery Lab, STEM-related facilities that cater to youth.

He said one of the strengths of the local plan is the fact Lawton already has the bricks and mortar for the lab, which is the same facility that will house FISTA’s $10 million STEM project: Central Plaza. Rather than using a large portion of CIP funding for construction, funds instead can be used to renovate existing space, leaving more dollars for equipment and associated expenses.

While details still are being developed, Booker envisions a facility offering non-traditional learning opportunities on weekends, after school and in the summer. While the lab will be designed for the youth of Lawton, Booker expects it to draw students from Southwest Oklahoma and North Texas because it will be the only facility of its kind in the region.

Booker also predicts learning won’t be confined to four walls.

“It will provide learning opportunities beyond the classroom,” he said, explaining the lab can host exhibits from other entities.

He noted a specific example: a portable planetarium already available from the Kirkpatrick Center of Oklahoma Science Museum. While it would be too costly for Lawton to build its own planetarium, Kirkpatrick’s lab can be a traveling exhibit, he said.

Because FISTA already is moving that direction with its STEM lab, Booker said the intent is to allow FISTA to run Discovery Lab as well. 

FISTA CEO Krista Ratliff said the two facilities have different functions.

FISTA’s STEM Lab will feature specialized activities that include manufacturing, what she calls “unique projects that will be developed inside the STEM lab.” By contrast, the Discovery Lab will offer hands-on experiences for youth to learn science through experiment. Consortium members say the Discovery Lab will appeal to younger students, while FISTA’s facility is aimed at older youth who have begun to think about careers.

Booker calls it “growing a workforce.”

“A pipeline,” he said, explaining that if students are exposed early, they may decide science and technology are good career choices. “Discovery Lab will be the propellant to loving STEM.”

Ratliff said the facilities are important because they invest in youth, and that educational opportunity is a key component in the next phase of development for Lawton-Fort Sill.

“As we continue to grow FISTA and high-tech environments with high-tech, high-paid jobs, we need our youth to be able to fill those jobs,” she said. “In order for that to occur, we have to invest and focus on STEM education that directly benefits our young scholars.”

Ratliff said FISTA Innovation Park is a great host site because it has available space and can provide high-tech engineers to work alongside students.

“When students have the opportunity to experience hands-on learning alongside brilliant engineers, it’ll change their trajectory of education,” she said.