Elementary Education Major Receives STEM Scholarship Award

Last semester, Bethel senior Ashley Quien was one of two recipients of the CenturyLink Scholarship for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Education at the recent Minnesota High Tech Association (MHTA) 2014 Tekne Awards. The Tekne Awards recognize Minnesota companies and individuals for scientific and technological innovations that positively impact their communities and beyond.

Quien is the second Bethel student to receive a scholarship award from MHTA. “This is quite an honor for an elementary education major,” noted Professor of Science Education Patti Paulson. All other scholarship winners at the awards are majoring in a specific field of science or math.

Quien is an elementary education major with a middle school mathematics endorsement and an emphasis in STEM. She has been active on campus as a math tutor for two years and is in her third year as a teaching assistant for a math education professor. Off-campus, Quien has gained valuable experiences, too. She studied abroad in England during interim 2014—observing and teaching in British classroom—and last summer worked as a counselor for mainstream and special-needs middle-schoolers in the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage school district.

After she graduates this spring, Quien looks forward to beginning her teaching career and integrating STEM into her classroom. “I feel prepared to do this from my experience in the STEM courses at Bethel,” she says. “These courses taught me how to use the engineering process and that failure is a normal part of the process. There were many hands-on learning opportunities that I was able to collaborate on in a group to problem solve.”