Nicole was an exceptionally critical part in the development, planning, coordination, and eventual execution of the Science Expo and Public Forum.  Nicole devoted countless hours behind the scenes covering conference calls involving White House and DOD officials, local law enforcement, George Washington University officials, and local school district officials from the District of Columbia, as well as Prince George’s County and Montgomery County, MD.  Not to mention her outstanding effort supporting the Events Committee Chairman to ensure that the final stage presentation and program execution were flawless for the organization.

She coordinated the volunteers involved in assisting the students with the setup of their projects and research experiments in the exhibition hall.  She was noted for her outstanding work in serving as an ambassador of the STEM Initiative goals speaking to local media, parents, and potential donors to the 100 BMOGWDC during the event.

Although the 100 BMOGWDC had other volunteers serving that day of the event, without the dedication and devotion by Nicole and a few others in the initial planning and coordination of these programs, it would not have been the significant success that it was for the organization.  The 100 BMOGWDC are greatly appreciative of Nicole’s time and talents devoted to improving the lives of young people in the Greater Washington DC area.

The 100 BMOGWDC has partnered with the Army Educational Outreach Program (AEOP) summer session – Gains in the Education of Mathematics and Science Program, (GEMS) with the intent to usher in students from underrepresented communities to this great STEM Program and curriculum. 100 BMOGWDC has assisted the GEMS program with the highest number of minorities and young girls from the DC Area in its 15+ year history and is determined to build more of these bridges moving forward.  As such, the 100 BMOGWDC delivered a “STEM The 100 Way” Ceremony and Forum on STEM Education and Outreach on 15 August 2013 where parents, students, industry leaders, education administrators, and elected local, state, and federal officials convened to honor the efforts of these students in the program while looking to augment these STEM efforts moving forward. The event had over 400+ local area students in participation and attendance.

The event was held at George Washington University in their newly-remodeled Marvin Center and Lisner Hall. There were approximately 1,000 attendants and the event was simultaneously streamed live on the Google Hangout Platform which will be made available to the general public. The first portion of the Science Expo took place at the Marvin Center starting at 10:00am and featured an exposition hall where student presentations from the GEMS students, near-peer mentors, and an overview of all of the programs offered by the AEOP were on display. The second hour of the program was conducted in the Lisner Auditorium where officials recognized the students accomplishments, students received messages from influential leaders such as Dr. Laura Stubbs (SES), Director, S & T Initiatives and STEM Development Office for the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research & Engineering ((OASD(R&E)/Research Directorate and enjoyed a close talk and forum conducted by Keynote Speaker, Mr. Ali Abdullah and 100 BMOGWDC Technology Committee Chairman Kevin Walter Smith. The 100 BMOGWDC also formally announced the STEM The 100 Way Endowment Initiative which intends to secure STEM programming with project-based learning curriculums and modules within the schools here in the Greater Washington DC Area, specifically targeting the underserved and underrepresented.

NEXT STEPS

Sit-downs are being arranged with the aforementioned as well as Mr. Jeff Singleton and Mr. Louie Lopez of OASA (ALT).  These gentlemen are the cornerstones of the eCYBERMISSION within the DOD sphere of influence.

It is the intent of the 100 BMOGWDC to leverage partnerships within the public and private sectors that will bring to bear the opportunity to expand STEM programs such as GEMS to give more students within the Greater Washington DC area the opportunity to participate. The 100 BMOGWDC will continue to build these relationships with the intent to have another site within DC, Prince George’s County, Fairfax, or Loudon County, VA.

Notable Facts:

The FY2013 GEMS Program was set to be closed by May of 2013 due to sequestration cuts, but due to the leveraging of relationships between DTRA-CB, WRAIR, and the Army Research Office (ARO), the 100 BMOGWDC were able to broker a meeting between the necessary government entities that ultimately led to DTRA-CB providing over $100K in funding from their STEM outreach budget to sustain the GEMS Program for this summer.  Based on the tremendous success of this summer’s program, the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), ARO, DTRA-CB, the DC Mayor’s office, and the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy are now looking to conduct discussions in the near term regarding the alignment and allotment of perennial government funds to keep the GEMS Program functional.