Vermont Business Magazine A globally recognized cybersecurity expert who was educated in a one-room schoolhouse in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom was the keynote speaker at a recent event for students in Franklin County that are passionate about STEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). Matt Devost, a graduate of Canaan High School, addressed about 80 northwestern Vermont students, educators and business leaders during the STEM Challenge Initiative’s (SCI) Fourth Annual Recognition Night, held on Thursday, April 4, at the St. Albans Historical Museum’s Bliss Auditorium.
The SCI encourages students to enter STEM-related fields and provides grants to schools so that students can bring their STEM-related project to life — and benefit their community in the process. The two-hour STEM Recognition Night has become a fast-growing educational showcase of STEM education in Franklin and Grand Isle counties, and this year was no exception.
For example, BFA-St. Albans science teacher Pete Symula partnered with Pediatric Physical Therapist Heather Blackburn on the Power Mobility Project, which has allowed BFA students to design and build affordable, powered vehicle for children with physical disabilities. In most cases, such chairs cost $10,000 a piece, but BFA is building and donating them to local families at no cost — thanks to a SCI grant.
Symula’s students used mechanical and electrical engineering concepts to build the vehicles; they also created apps to operate them. Symula said, “The engagement factor is exponentially higher” when students can apply knowledge to real life.
Other grant-funded projects featured last Thursday included after school and summertime robotics classes in the Franklin Northwest Supervisory Union and alarm circuitry design in Bakersfield. The audience also heard from BFA-St. Albans student Alexia Haag, who attended the 2018 Skills USA Competition in Louisville, KY, last June.
Glenn McCabe, a BFA-St. Albans science teacher, was the fourth recipient of the Mary S. Babcock Teacher of the Year Award. Babcock, known by many as “Mrs. B,” was a legendary Swanton educator who continued teaching into her nineties. She was a staunch supporter of STEM efforts.
SCI Board Co-Chair Cindy Bernier, nominated McCabe for the award. He taught science to both of her children and recalled how her living room became a mini-science lab, because her children became so immersed in McCabe’s class.
“Glenn McCabe is enthusiastic,” Bernier said. “Mr. McCabe’s life revolves around his students and their schedules. The students love Mr. McCabe because he does not talk at them. He talks with them.”
During his address, Devost used his own life experience as inspiration for students in attendance. He was raised in tiny Norton, Vt., and went on to become one of the first “ethical hackers” of the early 1990s. He has worked with the Central Intelligence Agency and wrote the first cyber-strategy for the Defense Department. He has appeared on several TV news shows and has consulted on films for Marvel Studios.
“I have the honor and distinction to be the first person to ever hack an aircraft carrier,” he said. “That’s a pretty neat thing — to be a kid from Vermont and hack an aircraft carrier.”
The SCI formed in Swanton about 10 years ago, with an initial goal of establishing a nationally renown Challenger Learning Center in the Swanton area. However, when it became daunting to raise the millions of dollars necessary to establish and operate the center, the new and revised SCI started raising funds to promote STEM education and student-driven projects in the Franklin-Grand Isle region.
For more information about the SCI, how to get a project sponsored, or how to donate to the SCI, visit www.scivt.org.
Source: ST. ALBANS, Vt. –– 4.8.2019