Discovery Channel star helps build bigger interest in STEM education

Discovery Channel star Danny Forster had a simple message for Utica Community Schools students Thursday:

"The opportunities that students can experience in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education are broad and diverse," the star of TV's Build It Bigger said. "You can have a phenomenal career where you travel the world and see cool things."

Forster, who is a professional architect, spoke to a design and engineering class at Shelby Junior High School and an assembly at Eisenhower High School about the possibilities for students pursuing their interest in the sciences.

During the assembly, he showed students examples of how architects use local culture and environments to create unique designs: the new 1,776-foot tower at the World Trade Center site, the new Bay area bridge, the Shanghai World Financial Center, and the new airport in India. 

The buildings, all of which were profiled in his show, are designed to solve a regional problem or issue and and reflect key aspects of an area's geography.

"I just want the students to look at buildings differently," he said.
It is a message that was well received by the students.

"If you have enough interest and dedication in your work, you can do pretty much anything you want in architecture," said aspiring engineer, senior Jason VanDenBerghe.

In addition to his show, Forster owns his own architecture firm - Danny Forster Design Studio - and teaches at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design.
He also has won an Emmy for the documentary Rising: Rebuilding Ground Zero about the World Trade Center area in New York City.