KC STEM Alliance offers experiences designed to inspire and motivate Project Lead The Way (PLTW) engineering and biomedical science senior capstone students toward excellence; recognize and reward a job well done; and help students with innovative projects connect with resources and mentors in the business community.
KC STEM Alliance will provide a list of contacts for teacher-coordinated virtual or in-person mentoring from professionals in the engineering and biomedical fields.
The Connector, built on the Nepris platform and managed by PREP-KC, is a convenient platform for connecting industry professionals with your students via videoconferencing. Districts with access to this tool are encouraged to use for mentor connections.
Teacher Guide to Virtual Mentoring Sessions: Download this guide for ideas and resources compiled by The KC STEM Alliance.
Contact Andrew Corrao for additional assistance with connecting to KC-area mentors.
The Make It REAL scholarship is an opportunity for students to reflect on their capstone projects and Make It REAL experiences, sharing what they’ve learned along the way and how they perceive it will influence their future.
Agilities Rock! In September, all students were invited to take the Agile Work Profiler and learn their top Agilities when they kicked off their capstone projects. After six months of ups and downs, students have used their Agilities to solve problems and navigate their projects. Now, we invite all of your students to take a moment to stop, take the Agile Work Profiler again, and reflect on the skills they’ve used and developed during their capstone experience. Please use the attached slide and resources in your classroom and encourage every student to tell their unique story by entering the Make It REAL scholarship. Using the language of the Agilities will help them better articulate their stories in words that colleges and future employers care about.
The Engineering and Product Design Competition is for engineering OR biomed students who use the engineering design process to design a product or solve a problem. Your projects will be judged by professionals against an engineering design rubric. Competition participants submit projects online using a platform called Zfairs. Zfairs registration and detailed instructions will be sent to capstone teachers. All capstone students are requested to create an account. Practicing industry professionals then evaluate how the projects illustrate students’ design-thinking and problem-solving capabilities. Scholarship Awards will go to the top two teams, with each team member receiving a $500 scholarship. See the competition rubric.
January 14, 2026: Competition registration opens
March 14, 2026: Deadline to register for this competition in Zfairs.
April 8, 2026 (11:59 p.m. CST): Deadline to submit projects in Zfairs
April 11-19: Online judging by STEM professionals
April 28, 2026: Top awards recognized during PLTW Senior Showcase
Biomedical students and teams working on experiments will be eligible to enter the Biomedical Research Competition. Projects will be judged by medical professionals and scientists against a biomedical research rubric. Competition participants submit projects online using a platform called Zfairs. Zfairs registration and detailed instructions will be sent to capstone teachers. Scholarship Awards will go to the top two teams with each team member receiving a $500 scholarship. See the competition rubric.
January 14, 2026: Competition registration opens
March 14, 2026: Deadline to register for this competition in Zfairs.
April 8, 2026 (11:59 p.m. CST): Deadline to submit projects in Zfairs
April 11-19: Online judging by STEM professionals
April 28, 2026: Top awards recognized during PLTW Senior Showcase
KC STEM Alliance, Startland and Commerce Bank team up to put together the Innovator Awards, which recognize innovativeness and marketability. The Innovator Awards are a ‘pitch’ competition. Students should review the application for questions they need to answer in their pitch and/or be prepared to answer when pitching to Investor Judges. All students who submit an engineering, product development or experimental research project are eligible to enter.
Investor judges will evaluate projects at the in-person PLTW Senior Showcase on April 28 and will choose 10 winning teams. Winners will be announced and Commerce Bank will recognize the winners with gift cards.
In this annual challenge from Climate Action KC, students are invited to imagine how we might improve access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy through the lens of the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals for eliminating poverty and tackling climate change.
Any student entering one of the competitions in Zfairs may also enter the Sustainability Challenge. Solutions to this problem should make progress toward one of three main targets that will aid in achieving this goal by 2030, as identified by the UN. Deadline to apply in Zfairs is April 9, 2025. The winning team will receive a $500 scholarship.
Students are invited to imagine how we might improve people’s health and well-being through the lens of the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals for eliminating poverty and tackling climate change. Any student entering one of the competitions in Student Corner can also enter the Public Health Challenge.
Solutions to this problem should make progress toward one of nine main targets that will aid in achieving this goal by 2030, as identified by the UN. Deadline to apply in Zfairs is April 3, 2024. The winning team will receive a $500 scholarship.
This annual event celebrates graduating PLTW students and highlights their senior capstone projects from the Engineering Design and Development and Biomedical Innovation courses in a festive event for friends, family, educators, businesses, and community members.