NIC shows students hands-on paths to STEM careers in North Idaho

North Idaho College put students inside the tools, labs and workspaces that can turn a classroom interest in STEM into a job in Kootenai County.

About 70 high school students and recent graduates gathered Wednesday, May 28, 2026, in the Hedlund Building to tour GIZMO-CDA, the robotics lab and NIC X-Labs. The event, now in its fourth year, drew students from North Idaho and Spokane and was designed to show what science, technology, engineering and math work looks like in real life, not just on a syllabus.

Students did more than listen. In GIZMO-CDA, a 9,500-square-foot makerspace at North Idaho College, they built cork launchers and moved through a mix of woodshop, metal fabrication, machine shop, electronics, ceramics and pottery, creative arts and fabric, VR and AR emerging media, and 3D printing areas. NIC says X-Labs, also in the Hedlund Building, is meant to bring students, faculty, community members and industry partners together to work on real-world problems through shared learning.

The goal, Ferris High School teacher Joel Gillespie said, is to show young people opportunities they may not know exist and to make clear that North Idaho has good jobs that pay livable wages without requiring a four-year degree. That matters in a region where many students finish high school unsure whether to stay, study, train or work somewhere else.

Several students said the exposure changed how they see their next step. James Jordan said he plans to attend NIC in the fall and is now leaning toward diesel mechanics after first considering the military. Adam Knapp said the visit helped solidify his interest in construction management. Lucas Cratty said it opened up more career options after he had been thinking about lineman school.

Marita Diffenbaugh said NIC’s next step is to bring a high school robotics team onto campus for training and programming experience in automation, a team she said would be the only one in North Idaho. That effort fits a broader local pipeline: NIC says it offers more than 150 degrees and certificates, including dual credit, CTE certificates, associate degrees and workforce training, while University of Idaho Coeur d'Alene operates across multiple locations in Kootenai County and shares space with NIC. The university’s Coeur d'Alene robotics lab gives students access to mobile robots, mechanical arms, a collaborative robot and microcontroller and computer systems, widening the technical path that can keep young workers rooted in the region.