Jackson Shrum will spend the end of his summer attending the NYLF: Pathways to STEM Forum in Washington, D.C. (Contributed photo)As Jackson Shrum prepares to enter fifth grade at Silverdale Baptist Academy, he is doing so as one of the top-ranking students in the country. In fact, he does so well academically that his teachers nominated him to participate in the National Youth Leadership Pathways to STEM Forum.
Jackson scored the nationally ranking results on two tests: the Reynolds Intellectual Assessment and the Woodcock-Johnson Achievement Test. Those results, which marked his place among the elite in his age group, opened the door to the NYLF: Pathways to STEM, which gives students in third through fifth grade the opportunity to learn beyond the classroom by participating in activities that explore their various interests as well as exposing them to new activities.
For Jackson, who ranked overall in the top 5 percent of students and in the top 1 percent in math and science, it is the chance to learn about forensic science which has him the most excited about the pathways forum, based in Washington, D.C., later this summer.
In addition to forensic science, Jackson and the other students will also get the chance to scrub in as doctors and build robots in order to study engineering and medicine, with the hope of narrowing each student’s specific interests to help steer them in the right direction for both college and careers afterward.
Jackson’s family and friends are all naturally excited to see him get this opportunity, said his mother, Marissa Shrum.