Burns & McDonnell's Brainy Kids

摘要

Design firms have been scrambling for talent for many years. And many firms have developed programs to attract young people into the profession by supporting science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs in schools. But one of the largest and most effective effort has been around since 2011, when Burns & McDonnell (No. 9) launched its "Battle of the Brains" contest in the Kansas City region. The Battle of the Brains is a program where students in schools in 18 counties in Missouri and Kansas are invited to form teams to come up with proposals in the STEM fields and submit them to Burns & McDonnell for judging. Ten teams from grades K-6 and 10 from grades 7-12 are selected as finalists, with each team earning a $5,000 stipend from the firm to advance their schools' STEM program. Finally, one proposal is chosen by Burns & McDonnell as the winner, earning that team's school a $50,000 award. The firm then develops a proof of concept and builds a permanent exhibit of the winning proposal, displayed in the Science Center in Kansas City's Union Station.