Hello, my name is Levi Patrick and I’m excited to introduce myself to you as the new Executive Director of the Tulsa Regional STEM Alliance. My family is excited to move up to the Tulsa area and take on this new opportunity and I really want to let you all know, the board members, that your service to this organization has been so impressive and I appreciate it so much.

I see that you are stewards of this organization and for the last decade have helped make it what it is. With the leadership of folks like Xan Black and so many others, it has become a reliable organization that partners across the region can look to and lean on to ensure that all kids are getting access to a powerful and meaningful STEM education.

As a former math educator, Director of Secondary Mathematics at the Oklahoma Department of Education, Director of Computer Science and most recently the Assistant Deputy Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction, I’ve understood STEM as one of the most important things that we can invest our time, our energy, and our resources into.

Because STEM is hope. And I believe that when students are STEM ready, they lead choice-filled lives. They see themselves as caretakers, as creators, as innovators and even nurturers. I can’t convey to you how excited my family and I are to be a part of that brilliant work that so many have led before me to strengthen STEM education across the northeast, and to serve as a model for the country.

So our aim here is to be completely on board as of May 1, and there are so many new and exciting things on our horizon, including wrapping up the incredibly important work that we’ve initiated so far with the strategic plan and setting our eyes onto the horizon to look for our new strategic plan and think about the ways in which our work might expand, so that we are doing the work that matters and the work that lasts.

So I look forward to getting to know each of you more, and I appreciate your support along the way. Let’s do good work together. Bye.