CONTRIBUTED PHOTO - South Tama County Math Teacher Harley Doty is one of 95 educators across Iowa participating in the 2026 Iowa STEM Teacher Externships program.

Harley Doty, a math teacher at South Tama County High School joins 95 teachers for the 2026 Iowa STEM Teacher Externships Program, which places educators inside Iowa businesses to bring real-world experience back to their classrooms. Since its launch in 2009, the Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council at the Iowa Department of Education has facilitated more than 1,000 teacher externships in a variety of industries throughout the state.

Doty will complete a six-week externship with Bayer this summer where she is working as part of the Field Operations Team. She gained hands-on experience in crop analysis using drones, field notes, and lab tissue testing. Doty helped the field operations team by completing a time-study of various tasks in the field, which will contribute to the labor projections for future year’s seasonal crew. Additionally, she helped identify areas in which additional or simplified training would benefit the crew.

The Iowa STEM Teacher Externships Program creates meaningful, two-way partnerships between educators and local workplaces. These collaborations create long-term school-business relationships that strengthen the local talent pipeline and help students understand the opportunities available in their own communities.

This year, the program is supported through state-appropriated funds and investments by Iowa business, industry and community partners. This year’s contributions from workplace hosts total $150,680 in addition to the STEM Council’s investment.