STEAM Education Ltd moved into the offices of Gateway UCC back in 2015 with a single desk and an ambition to inspire children to become future generations of scientists, engineers, mathematicians, designers, artists, technologists and more! Having greatly benefited from the start-up facilities, infrastructure and support of Gateway UCC incubation centre in the Western Gateway Building, the company has grown significantly.
Supported by Myriam Cronin (Gateway UCC Manager) & Professor John O’Halloran (UCC President & STEAM Advisor), and under the direction of Managing Director, Dr. Alice D’Arcy, the company has engaged and inspired more than 15,000 primary school children around the country, with fantastic support from our partner companies, local authorities, the Naughton Foundation, and other donors.
The model – to match STEM companies with primary schools – to support, deliver and co-teach STEAM programmes, using their own scientists, engineers, designers and more has been highly effective in building primary school capacity and meeting company CSR objectives.
Like so many other companies who survived the pandemic, STEAM Education Ltd re-organised its way of working, with new online/blended facilitation, and the development of Teacher Led programmes to support schools to build their own capacity.
Through the committed support of its long-standing supporters, and despite multiple school closures and the complications of Covid 19, STEAM have not only persisted, but come out of lockdown with renewed energy and interest from schools and companies who understand that supporting early intervention in education for is critical to the longer term development of a highly skilled workforce, and engaged, empowered, reasoned, creative citizens.
Due to this expansion in demand, the STEAM team are moving to a larger premises in the Marina Commercial Park – in amongst a hive of diverse enterprises.
According to MD Alice STEAM Education has, and will continue to maintain, strong links with UCC including engaging postgraduate students at the cutting edge of their research as co-teachers to inspire children; bringing visiting primary schools to the UCC Visitors Centre Junior Graduation ceremonies supported by JP Quinn; and collaborating with UCC research centres including ERI, MAREI and more.
The STEAM team would like to sincerely thank Myriam Cronin and all in Gateway UCC, as well as Professor John O’Halloran and the extended UCC community for all of their help and support over the last number of years. We have no doubt that many of the primary school children we work with will be attending as students of STEAM subjects in years to come!
The new STEAM Education office address is:
Unit 2 John Dunlop Building, Marina Commercial Park, Centre Park Road, Cork T12 YFH1.