The third annual Science and Technology Week begins next Monday, March 9, and will last until Friday, March 13. Throughout the course of the week, numerous speakers from the tech and science fields will visit the school. Students are encouraged by staff to attend talks held in the Eagle Theatre as well as participate in lunchtime activities.
“The whole purpose of Science and Technology week is to inspire LAHS students to be excited about their math and science classes and to really think hard about pursuing a technology degree in college,” said Julie Cates, parent volunteer and chair of the committee organizing Science and Tech Week.
Changes will be made from Science and Tech weeks in previous years to better accommodate the guests, staff and students. Although last year’s presentations were held on block days, this year they will be held during normal 50-minute class periods.
“This year we’ve really redesigned the program,” said science teacher Danielle Paige, the school’s representative on the committee. “That should really increase the exposure in terms of … more classes being able to go instead of having to necessarily give up a 90-minute period. We also think that presenters will have an easier time presenting to an audience of high school students in a shorter time frame rather than trying to figure out how to fill a 90-minute period; plus it works for student retention rates.”
Guest speakers will give presentations in the theater on Monday and Friday, as well as on Tuesday for AVID. These speakers will discuss their careers, their experiences and their journeys from high school to where they are today. David Fetterman, engineering manager of Facebook, has been invited as a featured speaker on Wednesday night, a new addition that is similar to the Writer’s Week format.
“It’s a message that really needs to sort of get out,” Fetterman said. “The people who are going to succeed now in the future … are going to have to know not only about the engineering, but they’re going to have to understand people, too.”
According to Paige and Cates, the speakers have been invited to broaden students’ knowledge on different types of careers that are available to them.
Monday will be “Physical Sciences Day,” with talks from an astronomer, a bioengineer, a forensics specialist and the CEO of NVidia, (which specializes in visual computing technologies) Jensen Huang. A paper airplane competition will be held in the quad at noon, as well as multiple exhibitions and a demonstration from the Robotics team.
Friday will focus on healthcare fields such as biology, chemistry and genetics. Guest speakers include medical specialists and Stanford professors. Stanford professor of medicine Dr. Beverly Kane will also be demonstrating “Medicine and Horsemanship—Communicating with Patients” in the quad with a horse during lunch.
Although this year will be more of a “transitional year,” Paige hopes that in the future there will be enough speakers for the talks to be in a classroom environment. She also hopes that the school will someday be able to host more activities.
“How cool would it be to have a NASA table and you walk up and actually say ‘So what do you really need to know to become a NASA scientist?’” Paige said. “We really want to try to bring in a real world connection so students understand why science is important to study, why technology is important to study, and where it’s really getting us in moving into the future.”