For immediate release, an update for the STEM Competition and the Trailblazer programs:
Dear TAME Family,
We hope this update finds you well as we enter a new year and navigate another surge of COVID-19 infections. You have all been on our minds as the TAME State Office assesses the latest iteration of the pandemic and balances it with our commitment to upholding our mission and values.
The TAME State Office has decided to pause all in-person STEM Competition and Trailblazer events through February 15, 2022. TAME Club sponsors should follow the safety guidelines set forth by your school or organization. The Trailblazer team will work with partners to postpone the visits currently scheduled during this time. The TAME STEM Divisional Competitions previously scheduled between January 31 and February 12 will be postponed to later dates on or before April 9. This includes the following TAME Chapters, in order of their original schedule dates: Lubbock, Dallas, West Texas, Capital Area, San Antonio, Golden Triangle, Valley, and San Angelo. The counties where these Competitions are scheduled to take place have Very High or Severe Risks for gathering, according to CovidActNow.org, which is the resource TAME has been using to monitor risk levels across the state.
The objective of the TAME STEM Competitions is to wrap our community around the next generation of engineers, to create opportunities for TAME students to collaborate with peers and role models, and exercise their STEM skills with community. The events are also locally coordinated by a cadre of volunteers. Many of you are highly involved in the education system, which will continue to see staffing strains, especially as classes resume this year. By postponing the first half of the Divisional Competitions, we hope to give us all time to be ready and safe when we gather in person later in the spring.
We will continue to monitor the risk levels across TAME Chapters and move forward with in-person STEM Competitions so long as the risk level is High or below, which has been our standard criteria for in-person events for most of the fall semester. We anticipate requiring and providing masks for in-person Competitions and other programs in addition to hand sanitizing gel and disinfecting wipes.
You can find the new dates for the Divisional Competitions on our Competition Schedule. We update the site as soon as we confirm the details.
Thank you for your understanding, support, and patience as we navigate this chapter of the ongoing global pandemic. Please reach out with any questions and concerns to programs@tame.org.
Sincerely,
The TAME State Office Team