Scores of High-School Students Benefit from Tech Forum

Scores of students from nine high schools in West Kingston were introduced to various careers in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) field at a Kids in Tech STEM Forum.

The one-day event, held at the Denham Town High School, was organised by the Ministry of Education and Youth in collaboration with the Ministry of National Security’s Citizen Security Secretariat.

It targeted institutions located in the Denham Town Zone of Special Operations (ZOSO).

Acting Director of Safety and Security at the Ministry of Education, Richard Troupe, said the forum highlighted the opportunities that exist in the STEM field.

“We are celebrating the importance of STEM in our schools. We want you to understand that there are a whole host of opportunities available to young people in STEM, and we want you to make use of it,” he said.

The event included presentations from industry experts representing companies such as Star Apple Analytics, Real Decoy, Jamaica Public Service (JPS), and Jamaica Defence Force (JDF).

Sixth-form student and former head boy at Denham Town High, Taquan Graham, told JIS News that as an aspiring marine biologist, the Kids in Tech forum allowed him to better understand the interrelationship between science and technology.

“Everything in STEM intertwines, so science, technology, engineering, and maths – all of that will come into the process of me being a marine biologist or biochemist to create solutions and solve problems, to make a better ecosystem for the animals or basically create a medicine to prevent most diseases or stop them,” he said.

Taquan believes that engaging students in STEM augurs well for their personal and national development.

“I think it is important for kids to get involved because it helps them to build their creative side and critical thinking and to improve the society and create a thriving economy,” he noted.

Tivoli High’s Adrian Creed, for his part, said he has been fascinated by video games and video-game design from an early age and the forum has strengthened his drive to become a successful game designer.

“It helped me get more ideas of how to create games and create technologies that can be used to play the games,” he told JIS News.

Haile Selassie High’s Latonya Barnett said she left the Kids in Tech forum motivated and inspired to explore career paths she had never thought about pursuing.

“I was never interested in becoming an engineer but I’m happy that they introduced me to it because now I see things the other way. It brought back my inspiration, and I’m really glad that I came here because it was great. I want to thank them for inspiring me because they have taught me that giving up is never an option,” she said.

The forum was part of the Education Ministry’s 25/34 inter-ministerial school strategy, which aims to provide support and targeted interventions to address violence in schools.