It takes a community of teachers, mentors, parents and local leaders to nurture a child’s curiosity of the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields. The K-12 STEM Symposium is for elementary, middle school and high school students interested in learning more about computer coding, space, 3D printing, drones, healthcare or chemistry through hands on applications and programs.
Linking science and mathematics taught in the classroom to impactful careers is an ongoing and national challenge. This year’s theme is aimed to help children specifically in the National Capital Region discover new and exciting possibilities in the mathematics and science fields. One way to help motivate a child’s interest in STEM is to help direct interest to local opportunities such as summer programs, family activities, science fairs and technology applications.
High school and college internship opportunities can help a student better understand the exciting and wide-ranging careers available to those with STEM degrees. Simple tools such as educational science and technology apps, family-friendly physics experiments and robotics building can influence a child’s proficiently in the math and science. Summer and school-year STEM enrichment programs are also a large part of a child’s interest in becoming proficient in the mathematics and sciences.
Scheduled speakers include Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST) Principal Dr. Evan Glazer, who served as the keynote speaker at the 2015 Symposium. He plans to address his role and responsibilities beyond the walls of TJ.
“We have STEM enrichment activities for elementary, middle and high school students via the outreach programs our students volunteer at [such as]the STEMbassadors,” Glazer said in an interview with WashingtonExec last year. “These programs are possible through generous time commitments of students, parents, teachers, and our partners. Our students sign-up to serve as assistants or run stations at one of our science nights, family math night, Math Count teams, robotics competitions, or serve as mentors or teachers assistants to evening, weekend and summer programs that are STEM-related throughout all Virginia. There are a lot of additional effort put in by our clubs and our teachers to make our school a resource for kids all over Northern Virginia.”
Other speakers include:
- TJHSST 2015 graduate Pooja Chandrashekar. The Harvard freshman became known for and spoke about ProjectCSGirls, which she founded as a high school student.
- Astronaut Dr. Sandra (Sandy) H. Magnus, Executive Director of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
- Eric Schierling, a former F18 Top Gun pilot and current Director of Vencore’s Space Group
- TJHSST senior Kritika Singh, Founder and CEO of Malaria Free World, and malaria researcher
The free, all-day event equally engages children, parents and teachers, coupled with corporate, government, academia and non-profit executives alike from the STEM fields. Activities for the day will include hands-on experiments for children, student science fair projects, panel discussions with STEM stakeholders, government and industry exhibitors, and information about government and industry STEM-related high school and college internships.
Click here to sign-up for the free March 12 event.
