Eighteen Shady Side Academy Middle and Senior School students had the chance to engage with leaders across the region’s most innovative tech community at the 2023 STEM Summit, held Wednesday, April 19, at the Energy Innovation Center (EIC) in Pittsburgh.
More than 300 area students attended the STEM Summit, presented by the Pittsburgh Technology Council in collaboration with Fortyx80 and the Readiness Institute at Penn State University. The event was designed to showcase the diverse array of STEM-related careers that are available for our future workforce.
In the morning, students heard from keynote speakers and participated in experiential learning opportunities at the EIC. Some of the companies they engaged with included Alpha Drones, AYA Instruments, Tobii Dynavox and Aurora. They also learned about career pathways and partnerships from Pittsburgh Technical College. Several organizations also hosted exhibit tables.
In the afternoon, students traveled to Optimus Technologies, where they got an inside look into biodiesel and learned about the many different career trajectories the specialists there had.
Students attending the summit included juniors Alex Chow, Joseph Krokosky, Tyler Marotta and Andrew Zeng; sophomore Audrey Jiang; freshmen Steven Hou, Jacob Johnson, Cassie Li, Sam Mitry, Vivan Poddar and Thomas Wang; and eighth graders Omas Awais, Alex Bi, Alex Chen, Anna Litster, Anna Grace Shultz and Andrew Xing.
The students were accompanied by Glimcher Tech and Design Hub Director Jesse Robinson. Innovative Teaching and Learning Facilitator Jody Kokladas, Director of Educational Technology Tim Winner and Middle School Computer Science Teacher Tim McGuigan.