No matter what your age is, you have seen the advancements in technology and how it's improved the way we live. Especially in the millennial’s lifetimes, there have been more advancements in every facet of society than in any other time before. This is a trend doesn't look like it's going to change anytime soon. With the rapid advances, more than ever, if you don’t keep up with the trends, you will get left behind--and not be able to catch-up. This is why as a parent of a young child, or if you are planning on having kids, you need to get them into a STEM field.

If you don’t know, STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math. To put it simply, these are the governing fields that make the world work. I am not saying that you need to keep your children from following their dreams. What I want you to take from this is that in order to find a place in this rapidly changing world, you have to be familiar with some aspect of things happening within STEM programs.

One reason that you should nudge your children towards STEM-related fields is the security that comes with a degree in one of these fields. Whether you go medical, engineering, tech-based, numerical, or additive manufacturing, the projected growth rate for these careers is huge. These majors will have a huge pool to chose from when it comes to choosing a job. Plus, there is a massive crossover between so many of these jobs. There is no one who cannot find something that they would want to do in the STEM field.

Students that start studying ideas and aspects represented in these fields will have jobs that aren’t even jobs yet! As a senior Engineering major, I am really at the start of so many advances. Kids who are in 4^th and 5^th grade now will be trained for jobs in college that aren’t even real right now--jobs that will be developed due to the advances and changes happening right now: that's the beauty that comes with this field! Kids will always have mentors, but their minds will ultimately be the ones to change the world. I know that sounds cliché, but it's true. One of the beauties of a rapidly changing world is that the next big idea is up for grabs. The ones that get there first are not the ones that are necessarily the smartest or wealthiest, it is the ones that are the most creative and are taught to be able to see what others can’t. That is what STEM does for kids; these fields teach kids not only to see the problems in the world, but how to fix these issues.

In my opinion, the biggest benefit of being a STEM major is the way that it changes your view of things around you. You will not merely go through life; you will go through life curious, wondering how you can make it better. You will constantly be finding ways to improve upon the world around you. This could mean anything from helping grandma to changing the lives of a village across the world. By having this view, you will undoubtedly leave the world better than you found it.

Being in the STEM field is the best career choice that could be made. With the quick pace with which this world is changing, you have to keep up, or you will just be left behind. STEM is the way to stay ahead. Be a problem solver, change the world, and choose STEM.

C.Long