TULSA, Okla. — It was a big day at Tulsa’s Hawthorne Elementary on Thursday.
Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. stopped by to celebrate the opening of the school’s STEM center, one of 47 funded through his father's foundation and Devon energy.
He spent part of his Thursday morning interacting with students inside the new STEM center.
It opened a year ago during the pandemic but Thursday they showed it off and welcomed Ripken to see it for himself.
Devon energy and the Cal Ripken Senior foundation helped pay for it.
This center along with 46 others are equipped with robots, 3D printers, and coding tools.
Tulsa Public Schools says these allow students to practice their critical thinking skills, expand their horizons, and expose them to technological learning.
Ripken says his dad’s legacy was about helping kids, so what better way to do that than to help pay for these STEM centers. Ripken took time to speak with the kids and shared a story to inspire them.
“When I was really small, their age, I remember watching one of my favorite player, Willie Stargell," Ripken Jr. recalled. "He said in order to make it to the big leagues you have to have talent but you have to be smart and I took that to mean I have to apply myself in school. I think if thats one message you can leave is that if you apply yourself and you’re smart whatever dream your chasing you can get there.”
Ripken says seeing the students work on the projects is satisfying.
Hawthorne elementary was the first of the 47 schools to open a STEM center using this money. They’ve placed all the STEM centers in elementary schools since research shows it’s more difficult to interest students in stem as they get older.
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