STEM, referring to careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, is typically used to improve competitiveness in technology development in schools serving kindergarten through college-aged students. In 2006, after the United States National Academies expressed concern over the decline in STEM education, there was a push to advance it and eventually schools at the national and state levels were able to earn STEM certifications. This means that schools offer an integrated curriculum where science, technology, engineering and math are taught together to drive problem solving, discovery and student-centered development of ideas.

In time, there’s been a push to add arts, or an “A,” to the curriculum, transitioning it into “STEAM.” Marietta Center for Advanced Academics (MCAA) Principal Jennifer Hernandez, whose school is Georgia’s first STEM certified school, says Virginia educator and developer of the International STEAM Framework, Georgette Yakman, first coined the term. “Science and technology are understood as the basis of what the world has to go forward with, to be analyzed and developed through engineering and the arts, with the knowledge that everything is based in elements of mathematics,” Hernandez says. “It is a contextual curriculum where the subjects are coordinated to co-support each other under a formal educational structure of how science, technology, engineering, mathematics and the broad spectrum of the arts all relate to one another in reality. This framework not only includes the art of aesthetics and design, but also the art divisions of the liberal, language, musical, physical and manual.”

Hernandez also says that the STEAM structure explains how all divisions of education and life work together, therefore offering a formal place in the STEM structure for language arts, social students and the purposeful integration of the exploratory subjects including; the arts, music and physical education. “Shifting to a STEAM perspective means understanding learning contextually; not only in terms of having a framework that illustrates where the subjects overlap, but also in providing a living and adaptable learning structure for ever-changing personal and unpredictable global development.”

The conversation about integrating arts into MCAA’s STEM curriculum began in 2012, says Hernandez. “We wanted to make sure we were successful with arts integration, so we started by infusing engineering in our arts classes.” For the 2013 – 2014 school year, she hired a part-time arts teacher with the help of a charter school grant through her district, Marietta City Schools, and a second full-time arts teacher, who was previously a graphic artist that earned her masters in art education from Cobb’s very own Kennesaw State University. “The arts will be used as a vehicle to infuse the 21st century skills of collaboration, communication, critical and creative thinking into engineering design,” Hernandez says. An example of how students are already practicing this is in projects like the Build Your Own Instrument Challenge, The House That Rhythm Built and What Does Weather Look Like? The school has also invested in a 3D printer to implement real-world engineering designs and the development of student-driven products. “Research shows that representing concepts in tangible form greatly increases understanding of that concept,” Hernandez says.

The Walker School, a Marietta private school that has emphasized the importance of arts in the curriculum, especially in the last 10 years, very deliberately doesn’t allow students to focus on just one subject area, and in all grades. “Many of our students who take advanced sciences courses are also acting in the musical, playing in our concert band or showcasing their artwork in our galleries on campus,” says Katie Arjona, chair of Walker’s Fine Arts Department. Like Hernandez, Arjona says the drive behind including arts in the curriculum is to keep a student’s learning balanced. “They are better prepared for future careers when they have a diverse skill set,” she says. “We have alumni who say that to us all the time. Students need the arts to help them be better communicators, increase their confidence, understand and learn to cope with rejection and failure, learn to work in groups, see beyond what is right in front of them and approach projects or problems with a keen and creative eye.”

A local corporation, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, prides itself on working closely with educators, policy makers and families to develop programs that educate and inspire tomorrow’s scientists, engineers and mathematicians. The company employs 60,000 engineers, scientists and IT professionals nationally, and approximately 50 percent of Lockheed’s philanthropy is focused on STEM. In Cobb County alone, nearly 375 volunteers have worked with more than 20,000 students on activities including the Atlanta Science Festival, robotics team support, corporate site tours, Society of Women Engineers and the Explore program, just to name a few. “America is facing a shortage of engineers today and our education system is not turning out nearly the numbers of engineers companies like mine will need to hire for years to come,” says Shan Cooper, Lockheed Martin vice president and general manager, Marietta operations. “While our industry is focused on technology and innovation that largely come from the STEM side, we fully understand that a well-rounded education also includes an arts component. We just need to ensure the system provides the right mix of all disciplines to secure our students’ and our country’s futures.”

Chattahoochee Technical College, also located in Marietta, is a higher ed partner that has been very proactive in integrating arts into the STEM curriculum. “Students in STEM fields will be pushed academically, and they will engage in hands-on learning, critical thinking and other important skills,” says Dr. Jason Tanner, dean for Arts and Sciences at Chattahoochee Tech. “I think courses in art and design areas allow students to see application of those STEM fields. I also believe that classes in art and design areas will demand that students be creative and use that creativity and imagination in practical settings.” Tanner says that like most accredited colleges, his school requires students to take courses in Humanities areas where arts-centered classes are offered. “By requiring a course in this area, just as we require a college-level math course, [Chattahoochee Tech] is demonstrating the importance of a student’s well-rounded education, but the college is also demonstrating how these must work in tandem.” Other area state colleges and universities partnering with schools and organizations that promote STEM and STEAM include Southern Polytechnic State University,  Kennesaw State and Georgia Tech.

Ants, spiders, roaches, mosquitoes —just reading the names of these pesky critters makes the skin itch and crawl, and with the warmer months upon us, it’s definitely that time of year when we see more pests around our homes and businesses. “Most insect populations decrease during the cold, winter months,” says Chuck Tindol, owner of Allgood Pest Solutions in Marietta. “As the weather warms, the insect population increases dramatically and begins to forage for food.”

Tindol, who runs Allgood with his brother Mike, started the pest control company 23 years ago. They provide termite and pest solutions to homes and businesses throughout Cobb County and metro Atlanta. Commercial clients include The Weather Channel, The Varsity and the Georgia Dome and World Congress Center. He says termites are typically active year round, but colony swarms mainly become a nuisance during the spring when hundreds of winged termites exit their colonies to mate and look for a new home. “Inside your home, they die quickly because they can’t get to the moisture in the soil, but the sheer number of termites crawling around can be quite scary for a homeowner.” Eric Gabe, a senior service center manager with the Arrow Exterminators location off Johnson Ferry Road in east Cobb, adds that termites cause more than $5 billion in property damage each year, most of which is not covered by homeowner’s insurance.

There are ways to deter these pests from invading your home or business, both inside and out. Tiffani Jenkins, who owns and operates ABC Home & Commercial Services in Marietta with her husband Benjamin, says most insects need food and moisture to survive, so by eliminating or reducing these elements, infestations can be prevented. “Gutters should be free of debris. Trees and shrubs should be trimmed and kept from touching the dwelling as this is another way insects are invited inside,” she says. “For termite prevention, it is recommended to choose pine straw as opposed to wood mulch that might invite termites to inhabit areas around the foundation of your home.” The Jenkins opened their Church Street location in 2012.

And if or when pests do become a nuisance around your home or business, there are ways to exterminate the problems. Adam Vannest, director of Training and Technical Services with Northwest Exterminating, recommends calling in a professional to help. “Proper identification of an infestation is essential to your treatment plan and can prevent overspending and mistreatment of an area,” he says. “After your home or business has been treated, it is important to maintain a regularly scheduled, year-round pest control service. Following your customized treatment plan and recommendations will help aid in keeping a pest-free home or business.” Northwest, which has been in business for 63  years, has four Cobb locations.

Factor In Health Problems

“Pests are much more than a nuisance,” Gabe says. “They can have harmful effects on your health and quality of life. Their ability to transmit disease and spread bacteria present a real challenge for homeowners and businesses.” Vannest adds, “Pests in general can be vectors of many diseases. Allergens, asthma, food poisoning, Lyme Disease and the West Nile Virus are just a short list of health-related concerns that can be directly related to the pests in our environments every day.”

Specifically, Tindol says research has shown that roaches are the leading cause of asthma among children, and Gabe explains that these pests are known to spread more than 33 types of bacteria that trigger the attacks. Gabe also says that stinging insects like bees send more than 500,000 people to emergency rooms each year due to severe allergic reactions, and Tindol adds that rodent droppings and urine can contaminate your food and mosquito bites could result in diseases like the West Nile Virus. “It is important to fully understand the dangers stemming from these types of infestation and how best to protect your property,” Gabe concludes.

To learn more about the services each of these companies provide, visit their websites.

It is often said that a company is only as good as its employees, and with the economy on the mend, business owners are selecting who works for them more carefully than ever. U.S. News and World Report wrote in January that our national economy appears to be poised for its best performance since the recession hit in 2008, saying it has largely mended. Fiscal and regulatory drag is diminishing, deleveraging is in the past and by the fiscal year 2015, the U.S. government is expected to have achieved a fully balanced, operating budget.

In this time of healing it’s imperative that companies keep outperforming the previous years, and happy employees will be a big part of that success. High employee morale can potentially boost revenue and reduce expenses—both serve to increase profitability. “Morale touches everything an employee or team does,” says Andy Crowe, founder and CEO of Velociteach in Kennesaw. “There is a direct correlation between morale and productivity. With the employment challenges in the economy over the past several years, many companies have neglected their employees, and now that things are heating up again, employees with low morale are changing jobs in droves. It is so much better to improve morale (and productivity along with it) than it is to lose employees and have to start over.”

The Makings of a Happy Employee

High productivity, a direct result of higher morale, is a competitive advantage, one that companies should strive not only to maintain but increase. One of the oldest and largest background check companies in the country, InfoMart, employs 100 people and 120 in its peak seasons. Founder Tammy Cohen recalls working for employers that didn’t recognize or support their workforce emotionally. “People spend a good portion of their life at work; it is important that people are happy where they work, and that they go home happy to their families,” she says. “From the first employee, InfoMart has always placed just as much emphasis on morale as we have on profit.” Cohen says that investing in morale has a high return on investment.

Velociteach is a small business with 25 employees and a global footprint. A leader in the project management education business, Crowe’s team trains individuals and businesses alike in more than 100 countries. Achieving Cobb County’s 2012 Small Business of the Year award and ranking on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s 2013 Top 100 Small Businesses in the U.S.A., Velociteach helps companies learn to plan, execute, monitor and manage their products more effectively. It’s no small task for this small team. With June being Effective Communications Month and National Smile Month—two areas that greatly affect the workplace—Crowe has some unique initiatives and practices in place to keep up morale in his own company, and it often starts with careful hiring. “When someone has a phone interview, one of the questions on our form is whether or not you can ‘hear their smile’ over the phone,” he explains. “We spend an inordinate amount of time trying to select people with the right personality for the organization. Positive attitudes are contagious, but negative ones can be as well.” They also make an effort to catch people doing things right instead of just correcting mistakes.

For Kim Ellet, who oversees Cobb County in the metro Atlanta branch of The Growth Coach, employee loyalty can be just as important as customer loyalty. The Growth Coach was ranked No. 1 by Entrepreneur magazine in 2013 for business and sales coaching. “We all know how great it feels to interact with an employee or business owner that clearly cares about the customer and will go the extra mile. If employees truly enjoy their job and are dedicated to serving their clients, it will show in the day-to-day interaction with both customers and fellow employees, and most certainly on the bottom-line,” Ellet says. “In addition to affecting sales, positive employee morale also affects marketing. In today’s world of instant reviews and word-of-mouth marketing, customers are swayed by the experiences of others, so it makes a big difference if happy employees are taking care of business.”

When it comes to what makes a happy employee, Crowe believes it is a constructive mix of some very important accomplishments. “We have actually done a lot of research in this area, and I believe it comes down to three basic areas: control over how they do their job, developing skill at their work and making a difference,” he says. “If these three are present, you have the ingredients for real happiness and success.”

Above and Beyond

Feeling valued, respected and able to follow productive avenues of change are some of the many elements that can take employee morale to the next level. “Ideally, business owners create the culture of open communication within their teams. Working with a coach for business and life is also a terrific resource to prevent and tackle issues that arise,” Ellet says. “It is very comforting for folks to realize they are not alone in some of the challenges they may face and that they can also provide support and insight to their peers.”

Cohen remembers her father saying, “Don’t hit my something with your nothing,” and relays this message to her employees—meaning that if someone has an idea for improvement and you don’t like or agree with it, you have to come up with something better before offering your opinion. InfoMart begins the day with a company-wide chant and the daily intranet posts announcements, tips and the productivity from the previous day. Each employee is aware of productivity issues and needs as they occur. The “IM InfoMart” program includes committees such as IM Fit, IM Giving, IM Growing and IM Celebrating that are chaired by employees to ensure that employee needs are always being addressed.

Crowe has an open-door policy in his business, but says that alone is not enough. “Employees need to know that their managers and co-workers really care about them as human beings and not just as human resources,” he explains. “I think that our greatest asset is that we really do value our employees, and I believe they value Velociteach as an employer.”

It is always a good time to look around your workplace and reevaluate how morale is affecting not just your day-to-day, but the future of the company. “The foundation of happiness is constant recognition, respect, security and empowerment,” Cohen advises. “Add laughter and activities that fulfill personal interests and you have not only happy employees but a very committed and productive workplace.”