Learning in the Sunshine State

The scene: Picture this. Two hundred and fifty students, parents and teachers gathered together on the beautiful campus of Florida Atlantic University in Jupiter, Florida, to work hands on with Sphero robots, attend college information workshops, develop math teaching skills and much more. Pretty cool, right?

The purpose: The Career and College Conference focused on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) was a half day of hands-on specialized instruction, offering a range of career and college preparation workshops for middle and high school students, their parents and teachers. Sponsored by the Honda Classic, the conference focused on three specific areas:

• Fastest growing career fields and opportunities available to students
• Parental awareness of ways to overcome barriers to college admission
• Skills for career preparation and the college admission process (e.g. researching schools and sources of financial assistance)

The day in a nutshell:

• Approximately 250 students and parents participated in workshops at no cost
• Twenty-five teachers participated in a math professional development seminar 
• Hands-on activities inspired students to learn about various industries in STEM fields and discover possible career paths
• Parents learned how to support students in their desire to pursue college, college admission, financial aid/scholarship searches and STEM careers
• Students isolated their genomic DNA from their own skin cells and created a necklace with their own DNA
• Students investigated what florescent markers, glowing sticks and jellyfish have to do with understanding the human brain and discovering new medicines
• Students learned to program Sphero robots and guide them through a labyrinth or maze
• Trophies were awarded for the fastest and most accurate autonomous code created on 3D printers

Now who says learning can’t be fun?!