Community Stories
Our Community Stories include STEM Stories and Learning Stories.
Explore our collection of interviews to learn about how STEM and other learning experiences have impacted people in our community. You can send questions to individuals interviewed and add to our Community Stories collection by conducting your own interview with a family member!
STEM Stories
Are you interested in learning about jobs and experiences in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)?
Watch the videos below to hear STEM professionals and others tell their stories including what they like most about their jobs and their journey getting where they are today.
After you watch STEM Stories:
- You can ask them questions using the questionnaire below.
- Conduct your own interview with a family member. We invite you to record your interview and share it with us so it can be part of our collection.
Interview Questions
We use interviews to learn more about a person. We listed our favorite questions below:
Core Questions (select or all of these questions for your interview):
- Tell us about yourself and what you do.
- Why is what you do important and/or interesting?
- How did you become interested in your field or in your job?
- How do you spend most of your time?
- What do you like most about your job? Least?
- How did you get to where you are today and were there people that impacted you along the way?
- What was a challenge that you encountered and how did you overcome it?
Essential Question (please concluded your interview by asking this questions):
- What is STEM to you?
Feel free to come up with your own questions!
Practice Interviewing
Practice conducting research by interviewing a family member. Read this short article called Talk to Me for tips on conducting interviews. You can print our favorite interview questions to use with your interview.
Share Your Stories
We would love for you to share your stories/interview with us! If you would like to send us your video of your interview, click the button below.
Videos of STEM Stories
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon
( You can turn on the closed captions if you find it difficult to hear this video's audio.)
Construction
STEM interview.MOVAccount Manager
An account manager at AT&T tells her STEM story of working in the telecommunications industry.
Engineer for Endoscopy
In this STEM story, an engineer for endoscopy is interviewed by his daughter.
Dr. King video.MOVComputer Software Engineer
About the Community Member Interviewed:
Mike has been a computer software engineer for more than twenty years. He lives with his wife, Lynn, and four kids, James, Henry, Annie, and Allison, and dogs (Witten and Charley).
STEM Story_Software Engineer.MOVNeuroscience
About the Community Member Interviewed:
Morgan is a senior at the University of Tennessee Knoxville majoring in Neuroscience. She has been actively involved in the campus and surrounding community during her time at UT. She is looking forward to next steps in the field of medicine.
Emergency Room Doctor
About the Community Member Interviewed:
Robert was an ER doctor for more than thirty years and during his career, he also was a medical examiner and a jail doctor. He lives in Middle Tennessee and enjoys spending time with his three daughters, Rachel, Rebecca, and Sarah and two grandchildren, Mary Jacqueline and Patrick.
Learning Stories
These are stories about positive turning points that individuals have experienced. These do not necessarily relate to STEM, but they do focus on experiences that made a difference. Share your learning story!
Interview Questions
We would love for you to share your Learning Story with us! You can use the questions below for your interviews.
- Tell us who you are (first name) and what you do (e.g. student, teacher, job, interests, etc.)
- What is one turning point for you and why is it important?
- What did it change?
- Based on your turning, what is any/some advice you would give to others?
Feel free to come up with your own questions!
Share Your Stories
We would love for you to share your stories/interview with us! If you would like to send us your video of your interview, click the button below.