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Area Girls Enjoy
Edison's “We Are IT!” Day
Photos courtesy of Edison
Community College: Keynote speaker Angela Siefer, founder of ShinyDoor,
addresses the group of more than 200 girls and teachers who attended
the annual “We Are IT!” day at Edison Community College. Also, students
experiment with Photo Booth, Pixlr and Photoshop in Edison instructor
Bob Robinson’s “Go Anywhere – Digitally!” class. Students had the
opportunity to digitally drop themselves into photos and videos. Classroom photos by Heather Douglas.
“I learned about how encrypting text on your computer can be good for a
business,” said Kiara Davidson, a sophomore at Greenville High School,
who attended the recent Edison Community College session on
cryptography. “It’s been really fun getting to walk around a college
campus, too.”
Davidson was one of more than 200 young women and their teachers from
Miami, Darke and Shelby County schools who were at Edison on Friday for
the sixth annual “We Are IT!” day, a program designed to help boost
interest in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields.
The day featured 15 different breakout sessions, with topics ranging
from forensic computing and robotics to digital photo editing and
chemistry. Each student had the opportunity to attend three of the
sessions throughout the day.
In addition to giving students a look at what they could do for a
living somewhere down the road, some of the day’s sessions focused on
things that are relevant in their daily lives.
“The Hot Technologies session was really neat,” said Alexis Regula, a
freshman at Jackson Center High School. “We looked at a lot of
different web sites that can help you out with your homework.”
Students had access to Edison’s labs and equipment, including computers
that are used in the college’s classes for video game and simulation
design.
Mady Kuhn, a sophomore at Piqua High School, sat in for the session
called “Teaching Penguins to Dance and Fly,” which gave students the
chance to program on-screen characters similar to those used in the
“Happy Feet” movies.
“It was challenging because there was a lot of stuff up on that
computer screen,” Kuhn said. “I would come back to do that one again.”
One session aimed to help students become more aware of their status as
consumers and how they’re becoming a targeted audience by marketers and
businesses.
“This age group is starting to gain a lot of financial independence
from their parents, and a lot of money goes into looking for ways to
exploit that,” said Ryan Honeyman, director of marketing and community
relations at Edison. “Everything from image manipulation on print ads
and in commercials to the use of music and celebrities is being thrown
at them on a daily basis. It’s a challenge to them to begin to
recognize how technology plays a part in their decision-making process
as consumers.”
Gabby Mescher, an eighth grade student from Versailles, returned to
Edison after attending this summer’s free STEM Academy camp and was
excited at the new opportunities available in this year’s program.
“I got to do something I’ve never done before today when we
experimented with different chemicals in the lab,” said Mescher. “I
would love to come back and do this again.”
The event began with a keynote address from speaker Angela Siefer, the
founder of ShinyDoor, which specializes in assisting small businesses,
nonprofits and government agencies by providing social technology
guidance and digital equality program development.
Siefer spoke on the value of social networking in today’s world, as
well as some of the challenges and pitfalls that come with a format
where people can remain anonymous in a medium that connects so many
lives.
In addition to the breakout sessions, students were encouraged to
participate in an essay contest with the first place winner, Caitlyn
Millhouse from Anna, receiving a tablet computer. The theme of the
essay asked the students to describe how they best embodied the
characteristics of the event’s mascot, “Mitse” (Math, Information
Technology, Science, Engineering). A total of seven prizes were given
away to essay winners.
Throughout the day, Edison’s faculty and staff were on hand to assist
and instruct the girls attending the program.
“I sat with the most delightful and enthusiastic group of eighth
graders at lunch who loved everything about the day from Mitse, to
their sessions and the luncheon, “said Catherine Gohrband, physical
therapy instructor at Edison. “This day always makes me feel good about
what I give and I am inspired by the enthusiasm I see.”
“Because of all the wonderful support from everyone at Edison, we had
another successful “We Are IT!” conference,” said Patti Ross, Dean of
Information Technology and Engineering and coordinator of the event.
“We had 20 faculty and staff presenters, 33 lunch buddies, 3 English
faculty who read our Mitse essays, 12 registration/welcome volunteers
and many more who just helped out with logistics throughout the day.”
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