« Back to NewsVIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOLS PARTNER WITH STEM LEADERS FOR STUDENT CAREER CONFERENCE

Building on its success with the four-day Hampton Roads STEM Academy held this summer for Virginia Beach, Norfolk, and Portsmouth middle school students, Virginia Beach City Public Schools (VBCPS) is launching another STEM program on September 23. Corporate Landing Middle School (CLMS) will host an all-day STEM Career Conference to promote student’s awareness and interest in courses and careers in the sciences, math, engineering, and technology. 

NASA Langley Research Center’s Director of Education, Roger Hathaway, is scheduled to kick off the event with a keynote address at 9:00 a.m. This will be followed by concurrent breakout sessions featuring 33 professional presenters in STEM careers. The culmination of the conference will feature another keynote speaker, Joe Burnsworth, Assistant Superintendent, Curriculum and Instruction, VBCPS at 2:35 p.m. 

Staff from the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and CLMS has collaborated with the National Institute of Aerospace (NIA), National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) in partnership with 11th AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations (ATIO) Conference) to plan and implement the conference. The event is organized like a professional conference and is designed to help shape student expectations and attitudes about STEM studies while broadening their understanding of STEM career opportunities.  

Nearly 450 Corporate Landing Middle students will participate in the Conference, including one sixth-grade team, one seventh-grade team, and two eighth-grade teams. Approximately half of the speakers conducting break-out sessions will be engineers and other professional in ATIO, many of whom are attending an annual conference being held in Virginia Beach and who are extending their stay to participate in this exciting educational outreach event. Additional presenters are from NASA, with three Langley engineers, as well as seven presenters from NOAA, and one NIA graduate student. 

Corporate Landing Middle School teachers have developed STEM-based units for grades six through eight, which they will be using this year as part of a model program being spearheaded by division curriculum staff. Ultimately, the curricula will be deployed at all middle schools across the division.

For more about Virginia Beach Public Schools visit:

www.vbschools.com 

For more about National Institute of Aerospace visit:

www.NIAnet.org