Beyond pie eating and making YouTube videos, Pi Day provides the perfect opportunity to talk about our need for Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. The gaps we have in highly trained and skilled workers for the next wave of the Internet—or the Internet of Everything—are real. According to research, by 2018 the U.S. will face a projected shortfall of 230,000 qualified advanced-degree STEM workers.

We must get children engaged in STEM earlier and cultivate that interest throughout their entire educational journey. The National Center for STEM Elementary Education notes that a third of students lose interest in science by the fourth grade, and by eighth grade, almost 50 percent have lost interest. By the time students reach high school, only 16 percent of American high school seniors are proficient in mathematics and interested in a STEM career.