Eight students of the St Vincent Girls’ High School (GHS) are now in the United States participating in a one-week STEM study tour at the Good Shepherd Episcopal School in Dallas Texas.
Mia Bailey, Sarah Foster, Kuba Francis, Annaliese Mapp, Ennabelle McMaster, Kyrah Sargeant, Ginniek Shallow and Osanna Sprott, accompanied by Lenski Adams (head of the Natural Sciences Department), Ronnise Henry (head of the Mathematics Department), Georgina John (head of the IT Department), Vynnette Frederick (group manager and a past student) and Roxanne Foster (parent/chaperone) left St Vincent on Saturday, March 4.
While in Texas, the students and teachers will participate in one week of exploration, collaboration and sharing around STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education.
“This will be accomplished through time spent collaborating with the students at Good Shepherd, site visits to other STEM facilities and one and one interaction with influential women involved in the world of STEM,” a release from the organisers said.
The GHS team will also meet with Vincentian Dr Gloria Regisford, a STEM professor at Prairie View A & M University in Prairie View Texas, who was recently awarded a grant to train under-represented groups in STEM. Regisford is a member of the GHS class of 1977.
The release said the intention is for the eight students, who are from the first, second and fourth forms, to pioneer the establishment of a STEM Club at the school. There are also plans to create a GHS SparQ Lab at the school’s Richmond Hill base, which is presently under renovation.
The eight students along with Deputy Headmistress Athalie Caine (not on the tour). From left: Ginniek Shallow, Kyrah Sargeant, Kuba Francis, Deputy Headmistress Athalie Soleyn, Osanna Sprott, Annaliese Mapp, Mia Bailey, Ennabelle McMaster and Sarah Foster. PHOTO CREDIT – Duane Bailey
The study tour was made possible through the work of Frederick and Texan Dave Copps in collaboration with the educators connected to the SparQ Lab at the Good Shepherd Episcopal School (GSES).
Copps is the CEO of Worlds (www.worlds.io), an AI Platform building the industrial metaverse, who for more than 20 years, has been visiting St Vincent and the Grenadines along with his family.
According to the release, on one of Copps recent visits, through the intervention of Frederick, he met with the heads of the STEM departments at the GHS and exchanged ideas with them “with a view to strategically establishing a co-curricular STEM programme at the GHS which will redound to the benefit of the entire staff and student body.”
It was during that meeting that the idea to expose the students to STEM and to develop a SparQ Lab at the GHS was born.
Copps, the release said, had worked along with Julie McLeod, Head of School at Good Shepherd Episcopal and her colleagues to establish the first ever SparQ Lab, on their campus.
The Good Shepherd Episcopal School is a private school which serves the prekindergarten through eighth grade student population.
Sponsorship for seven members of the 13-member team was secured by Copps along with the Good Shepherd Episcopal school, with other alumni and corporate sponsorship securing the attendance of the additional six participants. Parent/chaperone Roxanne Foster is accompanying the group at her own expense.
The sponsorship covers the cost of airfare, accommodation, transportation and food.
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