|
Schenectady High School
November 20, 2009
SHS students
inspired by GE program, scientists
 Twenty-two
Schenectady High School students head to the GE facilities in
Niskayuna one day a week after school to learn about
cutting-edge technology, to work and network with scientists,
and to participate in hands-on experiences and demonstrations.
The 8-week Inspire
Program is designed to do just as its name suggests, inspire
students to pursue a career in science or technology and help
put them on a path to get there.
Every Wednesday
immediately after school a bus picks the crew up at school and
transports them to the GE facility.
Neither the
students or the school district pay for the program or
transportation. GE provides both to the students as well as a
meal when they arrive after school. The students, all
juniors and seniors who are all interested in science, math or
technology, did have to apply and be accepted in to the program.
While the GE
program coordinators were looking to accept 20 applicants into
the pilot program, Jerry Rosen, house principal of the Edison
School of Math, Science and Technology at SHS, said they
received many strong applications so GE accepted 22.
 “Since
this is the first year of the program, we didn’t know what to
expect,” said Omayra Padilla-DeJesus, GE chemist and leader of
the Inspire Program. “We are very pleased and the students have
been great.”
On Wednesday,
November 18, week six of the program, the students attended what
is called a “technical” session in which they talk about a
technical concept and enjoy a hands-on demonstration.
Padilla-DeJesus
said when the students applied, they indicated what area of
science they are most interested pursuing. Based on that, they were placed in one of two
groups each focusing on one of GE’s two global initiatives, healthymagination or the ecomagination.
 Ecomagination
is about solving the world’s biggest environmental challenges.
It is GE’s commitment to provide cleaner and more
energy-efficient products, while also investing in a future that
creates innovative solutions to environmental challenges.
Padilla-DeJesus
said this area is for the student interested in
engineering-related fields. The seminars cover topics of
energy, transportation and water, focusing on concepts such as
wind and solar power batteries, the Smart Grid, hybrid
locomotives, diesel engines and solutions to water scarcity.
“Students
interested in biology, chemistry, and sciences make up the
Healthymagination group,” said Padilla-DeJesus. “They look at
disease, therapy and prevention and health care technology,” she
said.
“Today, one group will focus on discovery and the other on
transportation,” said Padilla-DeJesus.
 In
addition to the technical sessions, the students are often
greeted and welcomed by GE executives. Each student has a coach
who is professional scientist whom he or she talks with while
enjoying a meal before the session begins. Conversations
between the students and their coaches are about how they are
doing in high school, grades, course work, career interests,
college requirements, college selection and the career path of
some of the professionals.
The students spoke
one-on-one with each of their coaches comfortably and casually
about what they are doing now and where they wanted to go after
high school. Padilla-DeJesus said the communication between the
students and the coaches expands beyond their once-a-week
meetings. “Oh yes, they can email and call to talk,” she said.
“They are developing a relationship that will continue.”
|
Did
You Know?
There
are 9 main systems in the body.
Your skin is the largest organ.
Vitamin D gets made in your skin.
The
brain weighs 3 pounds and uses 20% of your energy.
There are 206 bones in your body even though you are
born with 350 bones. When you are born, the
bones in your head are separate and eventually fuse
together.
Your circulatory system is 60,000 miles of veins and
arteries.
You
have 600 muscles.
If
you stretched your intestines out, they would be 35
feet long.
You
have 50 trillion cells.
Your DNA stretched out would be 56 billion miles
long (300 trips to the sun). |
After the meetings
with their coaches, the students broke up in two groups for the
seminars. The Healthymagination group spent some time with John
Nelson, principal scientist and Reginald Smith, lead scientist
to discuss the origins of diseases and enjoy a demonstration on
DNA microbes. Nelson spoke to (and entertained) the students
about human systems and DNA. Following his lesson, the students
did some DNA testing of their own.
“Drink this,” said
Nelson as he and Smith poured liquid in to each student’s paper
cup. “Swish it in your mouth and then spit it out.” They then
added soap, salt and alcohol. “Should you see cloudy chunks,
that’s your DNA in there,” said Nelson. He explained that the
cloudier the solution is, the more DNA is present.
While they
continued their experiment, the Ecomagination group was down the
hall having a discussion about transportation, specifically
hybrid locomotives. They talked about electric cars and the use
of energy. “Whenever you use brakes and stop fast you use more
energy than you would if you anticipate that you are going to
stop and gradually slow to a stop,” said Paul Houpt, principal
engineer.
Following the seminar the Ecomagination students hiked across
the campus to the Trip Optimizer Lab. Each student had
an opportunity to drive a simulated train. The principal
engineer in the lab reinforced Haupt’s lesson on energy and
explained to the students that the key to driving a train is
trying to anticipate all the changes. He also said that a
typical train travels about 400 K miles per year. “That’s about
40,000 – 80,000 gallons of fuel.”
It's obvious that
the students who are participating in the program are enjoying
the time they get to spend at GE and with the scientists.
The students in both groups were clearly disappointed when this
week's
seminars came to an end. "It's not fair," said one student as
Padilla-DeJesus indicated time to wrap up. "I wish
we had more time here," said another student as she walked out
of the lab. "We should be here like five hours."
Padilla-DeJesus
said that representatives from two and four year colleges will
be meeting with the students soon. “They are going to talk
about different schools and financial aid opportunities,” she
added. “We want the students to be aware that there are
resources out there that they can take advantage of.” She also
mentioned that a representative from the New York State Energy
Department will talk with the group as well.
The students are
becoming familiar with GE. They enjoyed an Energy tour in
the earlier weeks and will take a tour of GE Global Research in
December.
“We want them to
be successful,” said Padilla-DeJesus, who stressed that the
Inspire program incorporates non-technical issues as well
including self-awareness and self-esteem. Two of the eight week
sessions were non-technical seminars that focused on
self-improvement.
“I really wanted
this program to be comprehensive,” said Padilla-DeJesus, who is
thrilled to see her idea come to fruition. “We talked about it
for a couple of years, and here it is, going great,” she said.
Photos
Click on the thumbnail to view larger photo:
 |
