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NSTC Community Outreach Program
The NSTC Community Outreach Program was launched in 2004 with an ambitious goal of encouraging young people to explore their entrepreneurial, science, and technology dreams.
The NSTC team has been a powerful advocate, spearheading classes in entrepreneurship at area high schools during the 2005/2006 school year. Joining forces with the Northern Essex Community College, entrepreneurship courses were given to students at Amesbury High School and Newburyport High School. The team will continue this effort next school year, hoping to expand it to include additional area high schools.
In addition to formal classroom instruction, the NSTC Community Outreach team organized three career panels for local high schools:
Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and
Math (STEM) Panel
Gloucester High School (Gloucester), January 20, 2006
Four female STEM executives spoke to junior- and senior-high girls about opportunities in science and technology. They were: Martha Farmer (independent bio/medical consultant), Judy Bedell (programmer for Fidelity Investment Management Technologies), Bonnie Benincassa (actuary with Sun Life), and Marcia Lara (manager of the molecular production group at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard).
Career Panel
Landmark School (Beverly), February 17, 2006
Six professionals shared their career stories with over 150 juniors and seniors. The speakers were: Sally Khudairi (CEO of HALOWorldwide), Jiahong Juda (founder and former CEO and president of WEST Women Entrepreneurs in Science and Technology), Stephan Thieringer (CEO & co-founder of GTF Systems), Kurt Schmid (COO of Crystal Systems, Inc.), Debra Darby (president and CEO of Darby Marketing & Communications) and Dr. Margo Seltzer (founder and CTO of Sleepycat Software).
NSCC Tech Prep Panel
North Shore Community College (Danvers campus) March 21, 2006
As part of the community college’s school-to-career program, a panel of NSTC members shared their career experiences with local vocational school. The speakers were: Lisa T. Sasso (principal for Sasso Solutions), John A. Sasso (executive manager in the medical device industry), Jorge Barrera (MIT grad and private consultant for MfgQuote), David Kightley , Ph.D. (senior Scientist at Genstruct), and David Herlicka (one of the country's top agents at New York Life).
First Robotics Competition
The Community Outreach team recruited nine schools on the North Shore to participate in the FIRST-sponsored robotics competition. FIRST ((For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a multinational non-profit organization, that aspires to transform culture, making science, math, engineering, and technology as cool for kids as sports are today. It was founded in 1989 by Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway Human Transporter.
Katrina Relief
The Community Outreach team is also reaching out further by sponsoring/adopting a New Orleans company hit by Katrina through www.activesolutionsusa.com.
Technology professionals and companies interested in helping the NSTC grow its Community Outreach Program can email info@nstc.org for further information.
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