Teens 'Hack.IT' at STEMBoard camp

Wed, Jul 22nd 2015, 12:39 PM

Suggestions to prevent frequent power outages and technological strategies to help the Royal Bahamas Defence Force were among the ideas students presented to facilitators at this year’s STEMBoard’s Hack.IT camp. The junior and senior school students, who learnt to operate drones, vied to win prizes when Dr. Bernard Harris, Jr., the first African-American to walk in space served as chief judge at the camp at St. Andrew’s School.

Aisha Bowe, the youngest Bahamian-American female to work with NASA, along with John Martellaro co-founded STEMBoard, the company hosted the summer program for Bahamian youth. The team included students from the Family Islands and through the donations of sponsors the camp was free of charge, complete with lunch and for some students, bus transportation.

The camp began with Bowe encouraging an impromptu think-tank, splitting the youngsters into teams and inviting them to come up with resolutions to technological challenges facing The Bahamas.

Stephen Seymour, 16, who says he wants to work in the STEM field as either an astronaut or an engineer, presented four ideas with his team on how the Royal Bahamas Defense Force could benefit from using advanced technology. With an interest in becoming an aerospace engineer, Willford Moss was one of over 50 students who showed up to participate in the camp. His father Celi Moss said that the camp not only provided hands on learning but also allowed his son to see firsthand the possibilities to make it in an industry that seems overlooked in The Bahamas.

“The STEM industries are the way forward,” said Moss. “I look at my son and the other like-minded young people here and wonder which one of them could be the next Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Jobs. We really need to consider investing in our youth in this arena because there are so many possibilities. I’m very proud to know that Aisha has come back to nurture the next generation of thinkers who can very well change our world. I’m excited to see what the future will hold for all of the camp attendees.”

During the opening of the camp, author, BET talk show host and entertainer Derek “Fonzworth Bentley” Watkins gave attendees entrepreneurial food for thought. The Morehouse graduate revealed he worked as a researcher in a genetics lab after earning a degree in biology before heading on the hip hop circuit to work with the likes of Sean “Diddy” Combs and Kanye West. He also signed copies of his book “Advance Your Swagger”.

“There are some students from last year who are back this year,” said Bowe. “I personally am very excited to work directly with these students. They have global mindsets and have already put in research into their projects. So far, they are working well in their teams on their various projects and we are all excited to see what they will be presenting at the end of the week.”

This year’s STEMBoard camp is sponsored by Millennium Engineering and Integration Company, the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, URCA, CBS Tech Emporium, K3 Enterprises, Adorn the World, Change Catalyst, Caribbean Innovation Ventures and Production Services Management Inc.

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