Governor's School 2008 - The Third Class
Governor's School – Year 3. This third annual installment hosting the Governor's School was slightly different than in years past. Why? First of all, it was held in NYC instead of Somerset. YAY! Secondly, we added lunchtime BOF's (something previous year's students had requested – or at least suggested). And, lastly, we were also invited to be part of their mentoring program which I participated in.
The Governor's School Day was a big success, although we neglected one minor detail. They were coming into the city by bus on the day of the All-Star Game parade. However, we were able to regroup and change the schedule on the fly in order to accommodate the late arrival.
The morning general session kicked off with a video from Jonathan Schwartz and then the keynote speaker spoke about college and what these students ought to be thinking about. We then had 9 breakout sessions that rotated in groups of 3 per zone. My breakout was slightly different this year. In past years, I had spoken about the “Participation Age” but this year I changed the content to reflect the current times and presented on “Web 2.0 at Sun” which was well received. At lunch time, the students were able to select which BOF they wanted to attend. I held a BOF on “Technology in School & Online Safety” which a few students showed up for and we had a very nice chat on these subjects over Pizza. I also assisted with a second BOF on Wonderland and 3D Virtual Worlds. This one had a phenomonal turnout. Next year we will need to do this in a bigger room.
The day concluded with a general session on Sun's campus ambassador and intern programs in a panel format followed by some Q&A and feedback from the students. So far, we already have a record 96% response rate from the survey Sun sent out to the students. Way to go!
With regard to the mentoring program, I worked with a group of students working on Technology Outreach. They were going to be introducing technology and engineering concepts to a group of middle school students and a group of seniors. I worked with them on the middle school content. The group met me in the city for an in-person meeting and I was very impressed with the work they had done up until that point. They seemed very prepared and excited about the upcoming events. They also created an extensive and well thought out document on how to build a technology outreach curriculum. They were thrown a few curve balls along the way but they learned from each experience. The participants at the first event turned out to be much younger than middle-school but also a smaller crowd so the curriculum was amended on the fly. Some of the activities that were going to be utilized included making roller coasters out of pipe cleaners and marbles and experimenting with putting candy in a soda bottle. They also created a presentation to explain the engineering disciplines and give insight into various fields that use engineering and technology. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the event, but I'm anxiously waiting to hear how the most recent one went.
Overall, it was yet another fulfilling experience. Feel free to check out my “Web 2.0 at Sun” presentation:
