PlastiVan partners with Detroit STEM project to reach students in urban settings

As much of the plastics industry struggles with a workforce shortage, educational efforts and incentives are in high demand to prepare students in urban communities for careers and opportunities in the plastics and polymer industry.

This year, the Society of Plastics Engineers Foundation's PlastiVan program partnered with Keith Young, founder of Detroit-based science research lab Ecotek Science at Work!, to reach fourth- through 12th-grade students in Detroit public charter schools.

"I think this partnership with SPE is the first one that created measurable outcomes beyond our laboratory," Young said.

The plastics industry "never had a credible messenger in the city of Detroit or the urban community" to encourage applied learning "and have the passion to stick with it long term," he said.

Young said the combined efforts "crushed" expectations for the program in 2021, as the pandemic "created a vacuum" and evaporated most in-person extracurriculars in the metro Detroit area.

"There were less substitutes for content in STEM," he said. "There was a lot of pent-up demand."

Young said he expected to see 1,000 students go through the new virtual PlastiVideo program in 2021, but by June of this year, about 6,000 had completed the program.

"I think the plastics industry has underserved and undervalued urban communities," Young said. "The percentage of African Americans in the industry is under 10 percent. … There's also little to no representation of a diverse population in the outreach activities the plastics industry provides."

Urban communities, he added, are "one of the biggest consumers of the products."

"Every time you buy a bag of chips, a bottled water, 85 to 95 percent of the products we buy every day, there's polymers in there," he said.

"For the most part," he said, those communities, including children and adults, "have not had any real exposure to the application of chemistry.

"Our kids in the inner city take chemistry, biology and they might hope to do a little earth science. But chemistry is in everything, and the application of the subject … hasn't been crystallized in a way that a person in an urban community might understand," Young said.

The average number of essays, about 25, normally submitted to an annual contest Ecotek hosts, "when most kids weren't in school and they had no support," produced more than 120 essays last school year, the largest number in the history of the competition, he said. "We're planning for at least 500 for this coming school year."

PlastiVan converted its educational content to a virtual edition in 2020 amid the pandemic, allowing students to perform experiments and learn industry history from home with the online guidance of the first Black PlastiVan educators, Evan Morton and Briana Young, both Ecotek alumni.

"It's very important that students not only have the opportunity to learn about the polymer industry but they also get to engage with it, network, have research opportunities and receive scholarships," Morton, who grew up in Detroit, told Plastics News.

Not only is the program expanding those engagement opportunities in metro Detroit, but also it's working to expand those opportunities for an existing laboratory in Florida and begin efforts at national and global levels.

Keith Young has also spoken with the United Nations about partnerships.

In the spring of 2021 Morton worked virtually with students in Dakar, Senegal, teaching them about the plastics industry and plastic alternatives like composites and bioplastics.

"I would love to see the program go international," Morton said. "But I would like to make sure that we service the students within our own communities first.

"Those opportunities weren't made readily available" for the Black community in Detroit in the past, he said. "We had to go out and seek the opportunities.

"I want to help lead the next generation of young scientists find their passion, and PlastiVan is the perfect way to convey my love for sustainability by teaching about the polymer industry and ways that [it has] evolved over the years," Morton said. "We really get to give the students the idea of the beginning of the polymer industry, the middle along with advancements, and the future to which they can help shape and form."

PlastiVan and Ecotek hosted a STEM fair in Detroit on July 7, the first in-person PlastiVan event since March 2020, offered a face-to-face environment for students to learn and filled the need for community engagement during the pandemic.

"That was the first time we were able to see the students," Morton said. "You really got to see them smile and not only understand, but ask questions. When you get students to ask questions and be engaged, running around to the different tables, you just can't help but think that this is really creating an impact."

Although society isn't "back to normal after the pandemic," he said, "there are opportunities for us to go into the classroom … and see students face-to-face again in [that] setting."

"I think it's very important for Black students to be able to be exposed young … [to] someone just like them within the polymer industry," Morton said. "It's very hard to get in these opportunities outside of school. That's where Ecotek comes in … where students can perform polymer research and [learn] in depth with the topics that they choose.

"These Black students want and need these opportunities; it's just that somebody needs to open the door for them," he added.

"These kids aren't usually interested [in STEM] because they don't have the exposure," Briana Young said. "When they turn on the TV, they see people like us playing sports or doing things in entertainment. They don't see scientists from our community."

The Ecotek program "showcases more than entertainment" as a job option for Black students, she said.

"It's very important for teachers to look like them," Briana said. "I feel like seeing people like us can influence them to go into the sciences without second-guessing themselves. … If they're taught about science applications and how to engage in the subject, they will feel more interested and confident to try it.

"Some kids also don't understand that science and art can go together. … You can still use your talents to impact the world," she said. "It's an important job, and I try my best to make sure students are comfortable. … The sky is the limit; they can do whatever they put their mind to. As long as you show interest and be curious, you can grow from there."

Eve Vitale, SPE Foundation chief executive, told PN that when she realized the foundation wasn't creating equitable opportunities for communities of color, she knew it needed to focus on community-based partnerships with programs like Ecotek.

"The last thing a community [of color] needs is someone to come in and say, 'We know how to help you,'" Vitale said. "[Keith] Young knows the demographic, the population. He's been working with these schools for over a decade, and we just supported him in his efforts."

Under Vitale's leadership, Keith Young said, the SPE Foundation has "a whole new mindset for why we should be doing more in urban communities when it comes to polymer science and engineering," including eventually replacing an "aging" population of plastics industry professionals.

"The foundation really feels that with some concentrated and lasting efforts in these communities that we can create a reliable pipeline of plastics engineers and polymer scientists," Vitale said.

SPE and Ecotek are looking for financial and corporate partners and volunteers for the project, which is expected to be held in person in classrooms this fall, depending on local COVID-19 restrictions.

French materials manufacturer Arkema Inc. also partnered with SPE to donate research stipends to eighth to 12th graders and college scholarships for STEM students.

See the full coverage of PN's special diversity report here.