North Country Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, a member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, will co-chair the Congressional STEAM (STEM+Arts and Design) Caucus.

Stefanik, a Republican from Willsboro who was chosen last November to represent the North Country in Congress, says the caucus “will host briefings and advocate for policy changes that will encourage educators to integrate arts, broadly defined, with traditional Science, Technology, Engineering and Math curriculum.”

“By incorporating the artist’s perspective into the important work being done in the STEM fields, we can challenge our students to think outside the box and create new solutions to complex problems,” Stefanik said.

The STEM concept (science, technology, engineering and math) was developed to get more females interested in technical subjects than in the historically more typical arts subjects.

Now the effort is to see students benefit from a more well-rounded education, incorporating arts and design into STEM subjects to help students gain a fuller understanding of the material and think creatively.

Stefanik says the caucus will work to increase awareness of the importance of STEAM education and explore new strategies to advocate for STEAM programs.