GREENFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – It’s STEM week and on Thursday the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education Commissioner visited Greenfield Community College (GCC).
Commissioner Noe Ortega made his second ever trip to GCC and this time it was to celebrate STEM week.
Ortega received a tour of GCC’s Outdoor Learning Lab and got to learn about all of the STEM-based projects the current students are doing, including soil sampling, and research on specific species like Salamanders.
22News spoke with Ortega about why he made the effort to see the work being done in Greenfield, “We’re here because we wanna promote our interest in STEM. Particularly in areas that align with our guiding principles. We are working with our schools to promote equity in the STEM fields right. We want to see more women in science, we wanna see more racial diversity. We want to see more people enter the field that clearly is tied to making a difference.”
After his tour of the school, he joined students at the “Dish with the Commish” Mixer and got to hear about the work they are doing, including third year student Gracie Rosenberg who helped organize his visit and tour.
Ortega hopes that everyone can recognize the importance of working in science, technology, engineering, and math.
Heath Kalb is a reporter who has been a part of the 22News team since 2022. Follow Heath on X @HeathKalb and view his bio to see more of his work.
