WORCESTER, Mass. - Over 100 volunteers helped transform a classroom into an immersive STEM lab for students at Forest Grove Middle School in Worcester on Wednesday.

The renovation was a joint effort between AbbVie and Heart of America as part of Abbvie’s Week of Possibilities community initiative. 

Jochen Salfeld, vice president of Global Biologics, hopes the lab will be a launch pad for the next generation of scientists and engineers.

“Diversifying STEM, getting a different group of young people into the STEM field to really create more opportunity for children with different backgrounds,” Salfeld said.

Volunteers even helped build a new greenhouse in the school’s courtyard.

John Flynn, vice president of Innovation for Heart of America, said the old greenhouse desperately needed repair. 

 “What we know to be true is that not all schools are supported equally,” Flynn said. “Resources are needed in more schools than others, so we try to go to schools that need the resources, the love and support a little bit more.”

Forest Grove principal Matthew Morse said it’s important to have a robust lab full of activities for students, because a spark of creativity in the classroom could eventually lead to a career.

“We feel it’s an important piece to develop at an early age and explore,” Morse said. “Many of our students go on to acheive a very high level in regional and local science fairs.”

By the end of this decade, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates an additional 1 million jobs will be created in the STEM field. 

MassBio CEO Joe Boncore said schools will need to step up to help fill those jobs. 

“What you guys have done here today, and this week, is create opportunity,” Boncore said. “Opportunity for students who otherwise might not have an opportunity to see themselves in STEM, through the work of just this lab right here, they can see themselves in STEM.”