A new mobile learning lab designed to get kids excited about jobs in science, engineering, math and technology will soon be traveling to schools across the state.

The BIOLAB by Educate Maine is headed to Fort Kent next week to begin stops at 12 schools in rural Maine.

“We’re just so thrilled that students all across Maine will get the experienced of being on the BIOLAB and getting some cutting-edge technology that they might not get in a normal school day,” Jason Judd, executive director of Educate Maine, said after a State House ribbon cutting for the new lab.

Judd said the idea is to introduce students to jobs in the life sciences beyond being a doctor or nurse. They are high paying jobs and the need for workers to fill those jobs is growing.

On the outside of the mobile lab, a sign lists the stats about life sciences in Maine, which include 9,000 jobs at 450 companies with an average salary of $100,000.

“Many of the great jobs in life sciences are lab based,” Judd said. “If students love doing labs in their middle school classrooms and love being hands on, they can actually be a lab technician in a whole variety of different Maine companies making a great income and having a great stable opportunity and actually do cutting edge research right here in our own backyard.”

The lab, which will target students in grades 5-8, received federal funding thanks to the efforts of Sen. Susan Collins and Sen. Angus King, according to Educate Maine.

Maine Senate President Troy Jackson (D-Allagash), who worked to get state funding to support the lab, said it will help students apply what they learn in the classroom.

“To me, this initiative is about leveling the playing field in education, opening up pathways to good-paying careers, closing gaps in our workforce and investing in an emerging sector of Maine’s economy,” Jackson said in a statement. “This is especially important in rural Maine.”