Read And Grow Rich S.T.E.a.M. Faire Has Youth and Parents ExcitedAbout the Future of Work

The Val Verde School District African American Success Committee (AASC) recently teamed up with Mobile Commerce Digital Technology Alliance (MCDTA) to host a one day event to expose district students to the joys of S.T.E.a.M. careers(Science, Technology, Engineering, art, and Math). The event was held at Victoriano Elementary School – a flagship school for the district. Victoriano Principal Caryn Lewis and LaSalle Elementary teacher and member of the AASC Cheryl Cooper served as proctors. “Read And Grow Rich plays a critical role in exposing the next generation of workers to the pathway toward STEM careers, critical thinking skills, creativity, and independent life-long learning,” said organizer and MCDTA Founder Cynthia Frazier, also known as "Tech Diva." “Students need to be inspired and motivated to challenge themselves and explore classes they may think are boring,” she continued. The first thing that caught the attention of everyone who walked through the door is that this is a program that is led by youth. Eleven-year=old President of the Mini Mogul Club Izaiah Frazier grabbed the microphone and talked about his business, Dollar Chores For Sale.com, and how he earns his own money to buy scooter parts. He then announced, “It’s Stop Drop And Read Time," before he introduced the booth operators. One of those operators is 13-year-old Carey Poindexter. Poindexter serves as a Jr. Ambassador for the American Lung Association. He told the students about his foundation that raises money to send children with severe asthma to a special summer camp designed just for them. He also explained what it is like to be an asthmatic who has had many surgeries. Another presenter gave an impressive demonstration of sign language. Five-year-old Britain Hall walked on the stage, and smiled at the audience. She never spoke a word. As her grandmother called out, “I'm hungry," and “I'm thirsty," Hall showed how someone who is deaf would use their hands to communicate. She walked the audience through words, sentences, and the alphabet. Next, Izaiah announced it was time for an Hour of Code. He introduced 12-year-old Ahmose Cain, who showed the audience how coding works. Cain gave a demo of a web based code he wrote and what happens when the programming language is changed. Throughout the day, students were invited to rotate through hands on indoor and outdoor program stations. Inside was the Builder’s Club where students built cars, houses, airplanes, and other self imagined objects out of Legos, magnetic shapes, LED pegs, and wooden logs. Students played finance games including Money Bingo and The Allowance Game. “I really enjoyed helping students discover their financial goals,” said Wealth Management Expert Breanna Reish. “It's never too early to introduce financial concepts to youth,” she continued. While some students played Chess, parents stopped by the Parent's Corner to browse through a number of self help books for encouraging children to be their best. Frazier encouraged parents to let their children tinker over the summer. She informed parents that there are currently over 8 million unfilled jobs in America because potential employees don't have the technical skills to fill those jobs. She told parents to let their children think for themselves and solve their own problems. Also inside was a light display where Engineer Bo Wang discussed what an Optical Engineer is and the types of products Precision Optical, the company he works for, manufacturers. He showed the youth concepts of the electromagnetic spectrum, and simple optical systems. Students got to examine right angle prisms, corner cubes (or retro-reflectors), mirrors, windows, beam-splitters, and custom prismatic optics. Outdoors, students became a Paleontologist as they examined bones, teeth, rocks and fossils from the past. Mother and Son team Dela and Robert Porter took students through a historical look at dinosaurs and other animals from the past. Students were able to “dig” for fossils in a sand pool. Also outdoors was the Wild And Wonderful Music corner where students learned about Foley Art, the art of making sounds for Television and movies. They made crashes, vibrations, storms, and animal calls with wooden bull horns, a small and large metal plexitone, a thunder tube,chimes with a symbol, foot tambourine, and bongos. One student claimed she and the others made it rain because as soon as they started making thunder and dancing around with the foot tambourine, the rain began to fall. This was a high energy, fun learning experience for youth of all ages that focused on the importance of literacy and reading as well as innovation and creativity. Parents were impressed with the hands on aspect of the event. The favorite booth for most youth was Food Science To Go. Here, students used their ingenuity to build their own car made of cookies, candy and icing to take home. At least, that was the intent of the organizer. Instead, most cars were eaten right after the design phase was complete.