Last year, we started the See It, Be It campaign in order to inspire and motivate our 4th & 5th-grade students to reach for STEM careers. As a result, this year we decided to be more ambitious and expand to include 3rd graders too, you can never start too young. Also, we decided to incorporate the A, for arts.
Scheduling presenters for 10 classes every two months proved a little bit challenging, even more, when technology didn't cooperate. However, we managed to have three complete rounds of presentations and a special session for the 5th grade. Throughout the year, we had 19 presenters with professions from the medical field to fashion design. This task was an "all hands on deck" to get enough speakers, but I believe it made an impact on our students. Some presentations drew more uhs and aahs than others, I mean it is difficult to beat a Mechanical Engineer that works with race cars. Some presentations were a bit complex, even I had to really pay attention to understand how antibodies work on a cell to develop a vaccine. But the message behind it was always powerful, you can achieve it, you can be it.
Teachers were receptive to the sessions and students enjoyed them. Many sessions were a bit abstract but students always had questions. According to students' surveys, they would like to have more speakers from the art field. Next year the challenge is scheduling speakers and making a concrete connection between their field and our students.
I hope someday, our own students will be the professionals presenting.
Dr. Okonye, ER-Pediatrician - Paris Brown, Video Producer - Emmanuel Trujillo, Medical Dr. - Maria Jackson, Dentist - Federico Venturi, Engineering PhD - Pia Gandolfo, Architect - Diana Broussard, Fashion Designer - Elizabeth Vaughan, Architect - Tercera Jones, Food Scientist - Hilda Sanz Mannel, Software Engineer - Joseph Daniel, Game Designer - Dranoel Wilson, Engineer - Sabeina Harris, App Developer -
Dr. Carol Daniel, Pediatrician - Mr. Dalrymple, Optical Field - Mr. St. Amand, Renewable Energy - Dr. Ben Daniel, Pharmaceutical Researcher - Grace Daniel, Artist - Patrick Haney - Vanguard HS Dean