VIDEO: TwinWest Hosts Annual STEM Summit

The TwinWest Chamber of Commerce is best known for the work it does promoting local businesses. But Monday found the organization helping schools instead.

TwinWest hosted its third-annual STEM Summit at the . The event gave Robbinsdale, St. Louis Park, Hopkins, Wazyzata and Minnetonka students a hands-on look at careers in science, technology, engineering and math—subjects known jointly as “STEM.”

The event encouraged students already interested in those fields to take more rigorous courses and those without an interest to give them a shot, said chamber President Bruce Nustad.

Eleven exhibitors demonstrated how they use these subjects in their jobs. Students got to splice fiber optic cable, talk about the chemistry of skin- and hair-care products, learn about forensic investigations and more.

“The business community is concerned about students and what they take, from a class perspective, in middle school and high school,” Nustad said. “We know that students that take science-, technology-, engineering- and math-related classes have great opportunities and provide a great value to the workforce when they graduate.”