For one Oklahoma County 4-H’er, a series of life-altering events made a big impact on him. In 2014, major health issues and surgeries for his sister led to her being placed in hospice care. A few months later his home burned down. The month after that, his family was involved in a car accident that would change their lives forever.

Suffering from a debilitating back injury that prevented him from doing the things he loved, Aidan Spencer wanted to give up. Fortunately, a couple of his friends saw he was in a bad place and invited him to join the Oklahoma County 4-H Robotics Club. That was a game changer.

“As anyone can imagine, I was broken. I didn’t want to leave my house, hang out with friends or do anything that would take me out of my comfort zone,” Spencer said.

But then, through his involvement with that robotics club, he found his place, he found a purpose and developed a passion. Now, several years later, his hard work and dedication paid off and the National 4-H Council named Spencer the winner of the2021 Youth in Action Pillar Award winner for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM).

Spencer said after his first year being involved in 4-H, he realized the importance of STEM education in his community. While he was fortunate to have found a program open to anyone who was interested, he later realized the discrepancy of local STEM access and opportunities. He realized the importance of making STEM activities available for everyone and it didn’t matter what a person looked like or where they went to school.

“That’s when an unshakable goal was planting itself in my heart. I wanted to help my club grow by reaching other students, who like myself, needed a place to connect and grow,” he said. “STEM is important. With science guiding the world around us, technology is constantly expanding into every aspect of our lives, while engineering and math educate us to think critically and are the basic design behind everything we have. By exposing students to STEM and giving them opportunities to explore STEM-related concepts, they’ll develop a passion for it and better understand the world around them.”

Spencer said his club leader noticed his passion and appointed him to a newly created outreach position that would push the STEM narrative into the community. Because of this leadership opportunity, Spencer was able to develop a comprehensive community outreach plan that focuses on aiding students who were under-represented in local STEM circles.

“Aidan is a shining example of perseverance and hard work. He’s an outstanding leader for his club, our community and our county,” said Cody Yount, Oklahoma State University Extension educator, 4-H Youth Development, in Oklahoma County. “He’s an impressive young man and I have no doubt he will go on to accomplish great things. My hope is our other 4-H’ers will see Aidan’s achievements and be inspired by them.”