The Minnesota Zoo is celebrating 10 years of the ZOOMS STEM Design Challenge this week and the more than 30,000 students it has impacted.

The ZOOMS STEM Design Challenge is a nationwide, year-long program that gives elementary, middle and high school students a chance to solve real problems encountered by zookeepers.

The program, which is sponsored by Flint Hills Resources, encourages students to address issues at the zoo using the concepts of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Flint Hills Resources, which operates the Pine Bend refinery in Rosemount, has been a partner of the Apple Valley zoo for more than 30 years.

This year’s competition gives students the opportunity to redesign the zoo’s bison and prairie dog exhibits, which can both be seen from the zoo’s new Treetop Trail.

American bison roam at the Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley on June 23, 2020. The Minnesota Zoo’s ZOOM STEM Design Challenge is celebrating 10 years the first week of March 2024. (Scott Takushi / Pioneer Press file)

The Treetop Trail, which opened last summer, is the world’s longest elevated pedestrian loop, stretching over a mile and bringing visitors up to 32 feet in the air with bird’s eye views of tigers, wild horses and more.

Since launching in Dakota County in 2014, the ZOOMS program has reached 33,000 students who have developed more than 10,000 projects, according to the zoo. Over the last decade, the program has spanned 434 schools across 12 states and two countries, with this year’s challenge reaching 68 schools.

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