STEAM Center Under New Management

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

The Mesquite STEAM Center is under new management. Former STEAM Center director Liz Larson has moved away from the community to pursue other opportunities. Replacing her as director is Nikki Meador. And coming aboard as STEAM Center manager is Denisse Jimenez.

But though the management has changed, the guiding principle of the center is still the same: to be a resource to the communities of Virgin Valley and Moapa Valley in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts/Ag, and Math (STEAM) education.

“We are truly delighted to see these two come on board at the STEAM Center,” said George Gault, an executive board member of Mesquite Works, the nonprofit local workforce development group which owns and operates the center. “I think that we are really going to take off now.”

Nikki Meador has recently moved to Logandale to be close to her new workplace. Before that she resided in Las Vegas for 23 years where she worked as an educator in the Clark County School District.

In recent years Meador was working in the district’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) office providing support to teachers in the CTE program. She was managing STEM education including Ag classes and robotics programs throughout the district.

“I was running a bunch of robotics tournaments on the weekends as well as supporting all the robotics teachers in southern Nevada,” she said. “And I also dealt with Tesla in their manufacturing development program to get students hired into Tesla right after graduation.”

Meador said that she first met Gault when introducing high school students to manufacturing facilities in Mesquite through on-site tours.
“He asked if I would come and collaborate with them on the STEAM Center here,” Meador said. “So I said, ‘OK, I can do that.’”

Initially it was only consulting. There was no intention of ever taking the job here. Meador chuckled as she said, “In fact, my boss at the time heard about my consulting with them here and he said, ‘You can’t take a job there. You can’t go.’”

But Meador quickly became enthused about what the STEAM center was trying to accomplish. “It was very exciting stuff,” she said. “I was thinking to myself that there is a lot that you could do with this.”

When the position became available, Gault asked Meador what it would take to get her into the job. The timing was just right and the offer was good so she decided to make the change.
Gault said that Meador was ideal for the job.

He explained that the primary mission of the STEAM center is two-fold: to introduce the basic STEAM disciplines to young kids so that they are “digitally literate;” and then to introduce actual occupational career opportunities to them as they approach graduation.

“We knew that this goal is going to require a lot of partnerships with the school district, the teachers, the principals and so on,” Gault said. “So we really felt like the director needed to be an educator. We recognized that Nikki would be ideal for that.”

Jimenez graduated from Utah Tech University in St. George last spring with a degree in Computer Science.

She was born in Mexico, but her family moved to Mesquite when she was in 7th grade. She graduated from Virgin Valley High School in 2019 as a valedictorian of her class.

While at Utah Tech she worked for three years at the STEM Outreach Center, which is similar in its mission to the Mesquite STEAM Center. During that time, Jimenez was instrumental in creating a STEM program in Spanish. She enjoyed this work so much that the idea of coming back to Mesquite to do the same work after college graduation was very attractive.

“I thought that the STEM Center in St. George was really cool and I really enjoyed working there,” Jimenez said. “I wanted to keep doing that. So when I saw that this position was open, I applied. Now I am here and I get to stay at home here in Mesquite.”

Gault said that the center is fortunate to bring Jimenez on as manager. In addition to her STEM Center experience, she also comes with a familiarity of the local schools including teachers and administrators, he said.
“I took Denisse to a CEAB meeting a week or so ago and I was thinking I needed to introduce her to everyone,” Gault said.

But the principals remembered her from when she was in middle school and high school with them. She was even familiar with CEAB members because she had gone to school with their children, Gault said.
“That was just terrific,” Gault said. “Plus the fact that she is a native Spanish speaker; that is going to allow us to hopefully make inroads into that community as well.”

Gault said that Jimenez is a good example of what the STEAM center is trying to accomplish. “She is somebody who grows up here, wants to be here, and is actually able to stay here in the community and find a way to making a living,” Gault said. “That is what Mesquite Works has been trying for in building a local workforce here and connecting it with new employment opportunities.”

Meador said that she has loved to see kids filing into the center seeking a variety of educational experiences. “We are excited to grow and attract more students here, and we have plans to start other activities here as well,” she said.

The STEAM Center is located in the Mesquite Plaza shopping center at 312 Mesquite Blvd. #116. It is open Mon. – Thurs. 9-5; Fri. 9-4 and Sat. 8-2.

Information about available classes, how to register for them, and opportunities to volunteer at the center can be found at mesquiteworks.activityreg.com, or call the center at 702-344-5556.