Latest / Still Caring / 03: How Curiosity Fuels Innovation: Inspiring the Next Generation

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03: How Curiosity Fuels Innovation: Inspiring the Next Generation · Still Caring

• 0:03
  Abby Fox (Host): Welcome to the Still Caring Podcast,
• 0:05
  presented by Stillwater Medical.
• 0:07
  Joe Akin (Host 2): Here, community is at the heart of healthcare.
• 0:09
  Katon Lunsford (Host 3): Through honest conversations and shared experiences
• 0:12
  Abby Fox (Host): we explore what it means to care for our health—
• 0:14
  Joe Akin (Host 2): and each other.
• 0:15
  Katon Lunsford (Host 3): Because better health takes a
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  village and you're part of ours.
• 0:19
  Joe Akin (Host): I'm Joe Aiken.
• 0:20
  I work at Stillwater Medical Foundation and I'm your host for this episode.
• 0:24
  Today I'm joined by none other than Sarah Brown, the executive director
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  of Still Wonder here in Stillwater.
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  Just to jump off track for just a second.
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  She is also A-C-P-C-M-A-C-F-C-M-A fellow working as the senior transformation.
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  Manager at Airbus US Space and Defense.
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  Just contemplate that for a
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  Sara Brown: a mouthful.
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  I know.
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  Who knows what I do?
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  I don't.
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  But hey, it's a lot of
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  Joe Akin (Host): Yes it is.
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  But now Still Wonder is a local nonprofit focus on hands-on steam
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  learning experiences for kids through play and exploration.
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  Steam used to be just stem.
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  I think that's interesting.
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  We've added art to it, which I love, but it's science, technology,
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  engineering, art and math.
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  And Stillwater Medical couldn't be more proud than to support the work
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  that Sarah's doing in our community.
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  And I'm excited for this conversation because what Sarah
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  and her team are building.
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  May have a direct impact on the future of healthcare and innovation in our region.
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  So thank you Sarah for being here and welcome to Still Caring.
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  Sara Brown: Excited to be here.
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  Thanks for the invite.
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  Joe Akin (Host): Well, hey, before we start talking about Still Wonder itself,
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  I'd love to start with your story.
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  So what inspired you to create, still wonder.
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  Sara Brown: I have a very active 6-year-old.
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  It started with just, it really was, I have this little human that I'm supposed
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  to be taking care of and, giving him the best life that I possibly can.
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  And it's looking around.
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  I was driving to Tulsa, I was driving to Oklahoma City, Arkansas to give
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  him these great experiences and it just felt off that we didn't have that
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  for our children, for our community.
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  And so one night I was just like.
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  Hey, what am I gonna do with all the spare time?
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  It was after COVID and I'd quit all my boards and I'm like, what am I gonna do?
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  My husband was like, whatcha gonna do?
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  I'm like, I'm gonna start a children's museum.
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  Do I have experience?
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  Not so much, but we're learning as we go, and it's been a wild ride.
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  Joe Akin (Host): So truly that was the moment you were just
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  sitting there and decided, hey.
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  Hey, I've got all this energy.
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  I've got a young one that needs to learn and I wanna help other's learn too.
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  Sara Brown: Absolutely.
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  And it was just, it was heartbreaking with the Wonder Auditorium was so beloved.
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  not having it around had nothing to do with how much it was loved.
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  It was just something that we couldn't let our community lose.
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  And so to be able to bring that back kind of 2.0
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  and bring those concepts and excitement to our community, it had to
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  Joe Akin (Host): now one of the things that I've heard you say is
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  that curiosity and play come first.
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  Why is that so important for children?
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  Sara Brown: It is, the curiosity part is just, that's what sparks that magic.
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  That's what really helps things stick in their brains.
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  I mean, you can teach kids all you want and sit them in classrooms and it's
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  not that that's a bad way of learning.
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  But when you can bring that learn through play concept, it just sticks.
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  magic.
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  It really is.
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  And so being able to inspire that and create the opportunity for
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  it, And so necessarily we're not creating, like, we're not sitting
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  down and teaching the kids, no.
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  We're just creating the opportunity for this curiosity and learning
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  to happen, organically.
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  it just sticks.
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  Joe Akin (Host): so for people who may not have heard of, still wonder
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  yet, how would you best describe it?
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  Sara Brown: I like to think of us more of as a community program.
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  So first and foremost, we're here for the community.
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  we are a space that we wanna be inclusive, immersive, innovative, where
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  everybody can find the fun and learning.
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  it's everything from we, do popups, we do, Grab and go kit, anything we can
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  do to kind of create that environment for the caregivers, for the kids, for
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  everybody to get that experience of whatever it is that they're engaging in.
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  and it's a really important to us that we provide that opportunity
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  of, that learn through play.
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  And I think, the steam piece of it when Jumbled back and forth.
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  Do we do the stem?
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  Do we do the steam?
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  What does that, how does that even come in there?
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  And so with that science, technology, engineering, that art piece along
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  with the math for us, is so important.
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  It's that, I think it's, we've talked so much about creativity.
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  I know we'll talk probably a lot more, but I think it's just, is that.
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  Catalyst that kind of, it like starts firing the neurons of the
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  brain so that they, can expand into more of those technical roles.
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  And so we just, it was a very conscious effort for us to
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  choose the steam side of it.
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  Joe Akin (Host): A in STEAM stands for arts, and that's the new add-on.
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  But in modern healthcare, increasingly it depends on, the design thinking,
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  the human-centered care, medical visualization, patient experience design.
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  They're all art driven thinking skills.
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  So how does creativity and artistic thinking play into scientific
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  discovery and innovation?
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  Sara Brown: So when I think about art, I think about like that, that you are
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  just, you're creating a skillset of.
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  Observation And then creating something out of it, or it's like you're in it,
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  And then when you move to the technical side, you're applying it, you're taking
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  that creativity piece and you're putting into that more technical side, I feel
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  like if we don't have the art And the creativity And that piece that's guiding
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  us to think differently, to challenge the way that we do things, that when we
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  go into these technical skill sets, that catalyst, it's that spark that's actually.
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  Having those curiosities to make us do better things in healthcare, make
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  us do better things in different technological, venues that you
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  might go into, into your careers.
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  Joe Akin (Host): As we roll through the years, one of the things that
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  we're finding in healthcare is that if we don't innovate, don't.
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  Don't embrace technology, we're going to have issues.
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  So that's another part of this whole thing that we're excited about.
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  'cause we, you get them engaged when they're that young.
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  Eventually they turn into the people that are gonna be taking
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  care of me in a few years.
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  So more power to you, and I hope you get those grants.
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  Sara Brown: And we hope for it.
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  It's one of those things that when we're building this, that's our goal.
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  Like not necessarily for kids to just us create a career.
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  Path for children.
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  We're not trying to do that.
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  We're trying to give them that spark to be able to be whatever they wanna be
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  and to have a little fun while doing it.
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  And so anything we can do to help plant those seeds and build
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  those magical moments, that's, what we're striving to do.
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  And if it happens to help us go into career paths that Oklahoma might need
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  in the future, then I am, I am here
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  for it.
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  Joe Akin (Host): With.
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  the success that you've had in your career in the different areas, all STEAM related?
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  I've often wondered and never asked this of you, were you a child of stem?
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  I mean, were you intentionally exposed to it or did you just gravitate towards it?
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  Sara Brown: I was pretty lucky, man.
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  I did have some of the opportunities.
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  my mother was really great on making sure that I went to, I'll never forget it,
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  and it was learned through play before.
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  It was cool, man.
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  It was at a science museum in Houston and they did these summer camps.
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  And I remember playing with dinosaur poop and being like, oh yeah, I've made it.
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  I've played with dinosaur poop.
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  but it really planted.
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  That's.
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  Seed and my grandmothers on both of my grandmothers were really big into arts.
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  So whether it was sewing or working with, different pottery and baskets
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  and just any type of really medium that you could think of in the art world,
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  I was exposed to pretty heavily along with the business side from, from
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  a lot of my other, family sources.
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  So I kind of, I got lucky.
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  I got to see both sides.
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  What I, think that we're taking that next level with is really getting
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  the opportunity to do that yourself.
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  So I was still learning about it.
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  It wasn't that I was being an excavator and I was digging out the poop.
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  And that's where I think we take it to where like, I could have dug out the poop.
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  I don't have to, I know I keep saying poop, but it's, the kids will love
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  it.
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  Joe Akin (Host): they will.
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  Sara Brown: but it's taking it out of that concept and being
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  able to, well, I'm looking at the poop, or am I digging up the poop?
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  that's the piece that I don't think I
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  got.
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  Joe Akin (Host): changed.
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  Sara Brown: we're trying to,
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  Joe Akin (Host): You've changed the way I think about Steam a steamy pile.
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  Sara Brown: I, I know.
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  I was like, oh, he is gonna go there.
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  He is definitely, um.
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  Joe Akin (Host): Has there been a moment when you're watching the kids play?
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  When you see one of them do something and you say.
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  That is exactly why we started.
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  Still wonder.
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  Sara Brown: It's almost It's more of just something that's was said.
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  Was a family that, it was one, probably like halfway through our popups
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  last year And we were doing, I don't think it was the Mud kitchen, but
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  it was one of our more fun events.
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  It was probably robots.
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  And this kid, literally, as they're walking out the door
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  to leave goes, best day ever.
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  And I'm sitting here like, yeah, it is.
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  And his dad walks by and he's like, he went to Disney last week.
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  Thanks a lot.
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  And I'm like, yeah, but it was, these kids are having so much fun
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  and like to hear that feedback.
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  I've had kids write me notes, draw me pictures like the, staff is just
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  amazing and they're just getting the support that they deserve,
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  like seeing these kids so excited.
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  So I think that's probably one of the most memorable.
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  And then.
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  It's fun to see the parents getting into this man.
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  We did a marshmallow engineering, like builds, like just popup space.
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  Man.
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  Those parents were building some of the coolest stuff I've ever
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  seen and they're having fun.
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  We had one where we were doing art, Bringing art to code, so
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  using different colors to kind of articulate how code might work and
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  you're drawing a picture out of it.
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  And this dad made like one of the coolest princess like art pieces for his daughter.
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  And it was just gorgeous.
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  But they're in there just drawn.
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  They're building like it's, we want it for everybody.
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  We wanna create that.
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  excitement for not just the kids.
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  This is a whole community experience.
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  We even did a popup at Legacy Village to help with memory
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  care and things like that.
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  So we're trying to like, even though our focus is and always will be kids,
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  it's learn through plays for everyone.
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  Joe Akin (Host): And one of the things when you were talking about the dad And
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  the son and they'd just gotten back from Disney World or Disneyland, whichever.
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  Immediately when you said that, I thought, how interesting is this because
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  the stem engagement that you're having with the son could ultimately put
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  him in a position to be an imagineer.
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  He needs those skills in order to build the things that he
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  experienced when he was there.
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  So that's, oh, that's a feel good.
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  Sara Brown: Yeah, it was.
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  It was pretty wicked.
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  I loved it.
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  Joe Akin (Host): So one of the reasons this conversation is so interesting
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  to us at s Stillwater Medical is the connection between curiosity, steam
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  learning, And the future of healthcare.
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  When kids are experimenting and exploring science at a young age,
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  what doors do you think that that might open later in their life?
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  Sara Brown: it's again, just by opening their minds to what they could
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  potentially be by just giving them the opportunity to see what's out there.
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  Just to have that aperture opened a little bit on what they're capable of doing.
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  It's pretty exciting.
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  and I think that's what's so important.
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  there were a lot of things I didn't know that I could even be when I grew
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  up, and to be able to show them through these learn through play activities, we
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  did a vet med one, which was so cool.
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  We had like.
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  Puzzles where we're taking apart a turtle and putting it back together.
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  But this one kid was just fascinated with how it worked and, and just asking
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  the questions, well, how does that fit?
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  Where does that go?
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  And so when we're going into, I look at it, when we're building the robots, could
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  they be building one of the next, like healthcare transformational, like robots
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  that go in and help us with surgeries?
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  I don't know.
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  Or clean, like, oh, we go through a lot of hand sanitizer, but like.
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  Maybe they're gonna invent something really cool that helps
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  me not get sick every other week.
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  It's, I'm here for that.
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  But they don't even know what they don't know.
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  And by giving them those experiences, I think they could be just about anything.
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  Joe Akin (Host): I couldn't agree more, but hey, when you think
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  about the future of our community.
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  What role do organizations like still wonder play in preparing that next
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  generation and yeah, just go at that one.
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  Sara Brown: I feel like we're planting seeds like we really are.
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  We're out there just.
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  Doing whatever we can to give those little seeds a little, water, maybe some soil.
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  just the little things they need to help grow their minds into that opportunity.
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  And it's a big deal for us, especially for our community
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  and wanna have 'em do it here.
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  I'm big on, I'm somebody who went off in my career and lived my best life in
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  a lot of different places, but once I came back to Oklahoma, I'm like, no,
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  Feel this very strong need to build these skillsets up and keep them in Oklahoma.
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  And so I look at this and I wanna plant these seeds for our community, for
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  still water, for Oklahoma, and be able to see if they can grow some pretty
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  great things for us in the future.
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  Joe Akin (Host): We talked about the popups and you guys going
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  around the community, going out to legacy, things like that.
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  why is it, important to bring the experiences into the community instead
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  of expecting the families to come to you?
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  Sara Brown: really comes to accessibility, like being able, like when we're playing
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  and they're having all this fun, not every family has the opportunity on a Saturday.
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  To go to the Botanic Gardens at OSU.
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  Not everybody has the opportunity to go out to an event in Tulsa or any of
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  the other great museums that we have.
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  We wanna be able to bring it to where they are.
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  That was one of the biggest things with the trailer that we just did.
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  And thank you SMC for your support of that.
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  So we were able, we wanna be out Where the need is.
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  And by bringing that accessibility out into the forefront, going to the
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  schools, going to the parks, going to the community spaces, by having that
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  available to us, we feel like It's just strongly supports what we're trying to
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  do of being like accessible for all.
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  Joe Akin (Host): I know your, long-term goal is to have a
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  permanent location for this.
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  a couple of questions.
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  What do you think that would mean to Stillwater?
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  And I hope This is a rhetorical question, that's not gonna mean the
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  end to the traveling show, right.
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  Sara Brown: I don't think so.
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  No.
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  I it's been just too successful for us not to, and not all
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  the events that we do are huge.
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  Like we like some of the more intimate popups that we can do.
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  'cause it really is kind of quality over quantity.
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  We get more time to kind of explore and To play ourselves and to be able
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  to have conversations with caregivers and parents on what's going on.
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  What was their favorite like, so we kind of try to mix it up so that we're
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  not just a giant event somewhere.
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  We really try to do the smaller things here and there, as well
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  as the medium to larger size.
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  But we see the future.
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  Of a permanent museum space.
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  It's, I want a dedicated place for this learning to take place.
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  And right now we are stretched, like with all the places that we're going.
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  We don't have that home base to call our our own.
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  it really would elevate the level of, care and fun that we're able
• 15:50
  to do when you have that home base.
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  and I think that that's.
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  It's where I see everything from, the families playing to the, programming
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  that we could be able to do and looking at, even future camps without
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  a permanent brick and mortar, it's pretty hard to keep this sustainable.
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  And so that's why That is in our short term goals, is to lock in
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  something that we can call our own.
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  Joe Akin (Host): what is it you think and I mean my mind goes all over the
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  place when I think about this, but what it is something kids today understand
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  about technology that amazes you?
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  Other than, than everything.
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  I mean, the older I get the less I want to engage, but I know I have to.
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  Sara Brown: I know, I'm all like, oh man, those pivot tables, they kill me.
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  I should be better at them, but I'm not.
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  But no, I think, it's how quickly they understand it, man, how quickly
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  they jump in and they just inherently understand how it functions and works.
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  And then they start like, not only do they step it and they're like, oh no,
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  I got this step aside, but here's, I'm gonna find new ways to use it.
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  Work with it.
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  taking it to a whole nother innovation level.
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  Like, I'm just impressed every day when I see them breaking stuff
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  down, easily functioning with it.
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  I even see it with our, fellows and interns, man, the way that they're coming
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  in and helping us with, CRM databases, which I'd never even heard of before
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  this nonprofit, coming in and helping us with QuickBooks and, just guiding us.
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  I know Those are kind of just more administrative type of stuff, but.
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  Just seeing how their brains and technology work.
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  It's just so cool, man.
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  Joe Akin (Host): we close every episode of what we call a challenge to care.
• 17:31
  What is one thing that you think parents, grandparents, community members could
• 17:35
  do this week to spark curiosity and learning in kids in the community?
• 17:40
  Sara Brown: Let the kids learn or be curious before you give them an answer.
• 17:47
  So like, when you are, how many times do you hear why from your kids?
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  Like, I think I hear it like 80,000 times.
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  The only thing I hear more is Mom, mom, mom.
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  But it's fine.
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  But when they, it's not a trigger, it's fine.
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  Um, but they, they will say, well, why?
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  Well, let's turn it back on them.
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  Why do you think, why do you think it works like that?
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  let's break that down and let them kind of build their curiosity on how it does work
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  And then we can give them the answer.
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  But let's, challenge them to start thinking of the whys.
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  Let's have their brain, their little curiosity minds ask,
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  like, why do you think that?
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  What do you think?
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  it's pretty easy, simple way to, to flip the script.
• 18:28
  Joe Akin (Host): It is, but man, that's powerful.
• 18:30
  But hey Sarah, thank you for joining us And for the work and
• 18:33
  your team are doing to inspire the curiosity of the next generation.
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  It's organizations like still Wonder that Remind us.
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  That the future, our future And the future of healthcare is innovation, community
• 18:46
  leadership, and it all often begins with just kind of what you just said.
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  It's the very simple things from a child just saying why, because
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  that's where everything starts.
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  But I love that you went there because it's, you don't have
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  to just give them the answer.
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  In fact, it's kind of, This is strong, but it's kind of crippling
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  by just giving them the answer.
• 19:08
  and to our listeners, thank you for joining us for The Still Caring Podcast.
• 19:14
  And remember, This is what we keep talking about, better Health
• 19:17
  Takes a Village, And we are super glad that you're part of ours.
• 19:21
  Sarah, thank you so much.