By Marinee Zavala
Increasing the low numbers of university students majoring in science and technology fields in Chula Vista is the aim of a new program in the city that looks to stir up the interest of science and technology in local children.
The Innovation Station workshop, located inside the Chula Vista Civic Center Library, opened this week looking to reverse the low STEM engagement numbers in the community. The center’s goal is to uncover scientific talent within elementary-school-age children who didn;t think of themselves as scientists and to discover fields that were not aware of.
The program kicked off this past August 1.
“WHen students enter and they see the workshop their eyes brighten up and you can hear them say ‘woah,’” said Michael Bruder, an engineering teacher in the Chula Vista Elementary School District.
A concern that Chula Vista school authorities and Qualcomm have is the low number of Latino students in science related fields.
“The science and technology enrollment rates of the Latino population are terrible, they are very low and they are something we are trying to boost. There are a lot of programs for 
children with parents in engineering but we are mostly trying to reach the working class communities,” said Susie Armstrong, Vice President of Engineering for Qualcomm.
Chula Vista is one of the regions of the county with the largest Latino populations in the county; about 68 percent of the Chula Vista Elementary School District is Latino.
Anthony Millican, communications director for the Chula Vista Elementary School district, stated that “we want the community to have the same opportunities to enter high level fields that can change the lives of not only the life of the students, but the lives of their families.”
Another goal for Innovation Station is bringing in more young girls into the world of mathematics and to show them that the sciences can be a viable career choice for women as well.
Otra de las grandes preocupaciones y metas del proyecto, es impulsar a más pequeñas y mujeres al mundo de las matemáticas y que consideren como su primera opción el estudiar ciencias, y así no se vean limitadas por las normas sociales.
Diana Rendina, a local teacher, seemed pleased with the new workshop space. 
“This is a space where students can gather and create, transform, explore and discover through a variety of tools and materials,” Rendina said.
Less than a month after opening its doors, this space has changed the perspectives of students such as 11-year-old Laura Esmeralda Martinez, who said she thought about other majors but is now thinking of becoming a creator and a scientist.
“What I like most is being able to express our creativity. I wanted to become a lawyer because my mom wanted me to be one, but now I am liking computer programming a lot more,” said Martinez.
Por supporters of this project, awakening excitement por careers that will benefit the lives of these youngsters is the best reward.
The Innovation Station workshop is free and is also seeks to attract other Chula Vista residents such as veterans and teens so that the whole community can be a part of the library’s community.