On Dec. 7, LM participated alongside seven other tribal organizations, schools, and businesses in a virtual STEM-sation event. The Zoom platform was set up by one of the organizations and students were divided into virtual classrooms. Each presenter had individual time slots and “breakout rooms” to dazzle the students with presentations tailored specifically for this event. LM put together a nine-minute video titled “Go With the Flow” that highlighted the significance of groundwater and how groundwater is treated and tested at LM’s Shiprock, New Mexico, Disposal Site. The Shiprock site is approximately 27 miles from Navajo Preparatory School, making the reference to the site and its unique geology more meaningful. Some of the students that attend Navajo Preparatory are from Shiprock and nearby communities. 

During area outreach events with Shiprock community members, LM and LMSP have discovered that residents are always eager to learn more about the Shiprock disposal cell and the long-term surveillance work that LM performs at the site. The overall goal for this virtual STEM-sation event was to provide a unique opportunity to engage students and encourage them to enter STEM career fields while providing education through a demonstration of LM’s post-closure work and responsibilities at a site that is geographically nearby.