Our names are Noa Essner and Maya Puterman. We were among the few members of our freshman class who hadn’t gone to Ramaz for at least one year prior to the 2021-22 school year. This shared outlook on the school year led to a friendship that would lead to the founding of our website, STEAMnews.org. STEAM News is the global e-newspaper for teens to explore their passions for STEAM through writing articles about relevant topics in the interdisciplinary fields. 

The acronym “STEAM” stands for science, technology, engineering, art, and math. And while each category individually provides its own unique method of innovation, the truth is that progress in any of these fields occurs most significantly in overlap with one another. Scientific ideas are more often than not dependent upon engineering to be brought into fruition, and likewise, technology more often than not requires mathematics to function. This convergence is what makes STEAM such an integral part of everyday life. It’s simply a recognition of this teamwork that’s lacking, as it did for each of us until we separately discovered STEAM within the last few years. 

Neither of us truly knew what STEAM represents or how empowering it feels to be involved until recently. We are among millions of children and teens growing up facing the harsh reality that if we don’t take action against the imminent threat of climate change now, the mistakes the world is making will have negative consequences on the planet that will quickly be rendered irreversible. Protecting the Earth’s atmosphere, as well as preventing pollution outside its atmosphere, is one of the many values we hope to instill within our readers. Additionally, with each passing year, we have laid witness to groundbreaking advancements in technology which people hadn’t previously thought to be possible. And developments in new technologies are trailblazing in the industry and are forever changing our world, making daily tasks and habits more efficient than ever before, something that resonated with us. Intuitively, we each recognized that not only our interest, but our budding aptitude for designing or promoting solutions to problems of which STEAM is the solution meant that we needed to find a community of people who shared in these beliefs and build upon it. With STEAM News, we have the privilege of having created said community. 

When we co-founded STEAM News this year, it was with one objective: to create a community of like-minded readers, writers, STEAMdle (our daily Wordle, STEAM-edition) solvers, and photographers in middle school and high school who embody what an appreciation of STEAM means in every regard. Our incredible, dedicated team is working with us to introduce and educate kids worldwide about STEAM, the future of innovation. 

To be a part of this compelling movement, we urge readers to visit our website, STEAMnews.org. Our website contains numerous articles on topics ranging from using virtual reality to train workers, utilizing AI to help detect cancer, approaching solving the Rubik’s cube from a mathematical standpoint, and many others, especially addressing the threats of climate change, its impacts, and different solutions. In addition, we have biographies on trailblazing women in STEAM as well as interviews with current STEAM professionals. We have many more exciting article ideas in the works, and aside from our talented team of writers and editors already in place, we would love more involvement from teens at Ramaz, other schools, and around the world.

On the ‘Join Us’ page of our site, there is a form to fill out with all the information necessary to write an article. Writers will have their names listed on our website upon submitting their first article. Additionally, our social media platform is ever-expanding. Get involved and help spread the word by playing our daily STEAMdle on our home page and following us on Instagram at @STEAMnewsOFFICIAL.

Though her name isn’t as widely known as the likes of Einstein, it was perhaps entrepreneur and businesswoman Ursula Burns who stated it the best: “I didn’t learn to be quiet when I had an opinion. The reason they knew who I was is because I told them.” The role STEAM plays, or rather can play, in each one of our lives is highly significant. STEAM is such a major part of our identities, as it provides a means of expressing ourselves, our creativity, and originality. It is only through putting pen to paper and inserting our different outlooks on life, in which STEAM is everywhere, that we can voice our opinions and be heard. STEAM News is so much more than a newspaper. It’s filled with articles that serve as extensions of every one of our writers. When we say that STEAM is the future, it’s because we, the newest generation of thinkers, are the future. Humanity is what makes STEAM so great. Enable STEAM News to be the outlet for you, in order to, as Gandhi put so eloquently, “be the change you wish to see in the world.”