The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
Franklin High School students in four science-related clubs held their annual gathering at the high school May 17, an event designed to bolster support for so-called STEM professions.
STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, which are seen as related disciplines.
Attending the event were students in the MedTech, Robotics, Science Research and F=ma (Physics) clubs.
The stidents heard from speakers including Maryadele O’Neil, author of the Merck Index of chemicals, drugs and biomedicals; Mary Beth Giacona, a pediatric dentist, and Robert Piagentini, plant engineer for Massachusettes-based Thermo Fisher Scientific.
Also speaking were FHS alumsAlyssa Wells-Lewis (FHS 2017), whose topic was mechanical engineering and aerospace; Anamaria Buchhan (FHS 2019), whose topic was neuroscience; Janiah Fladger (FHS 2020), whose topic was public health, and Ntim Afriye (FHS 2022), whose topic was mechanical engineering.
Faculty advisors for the event were physics teachers Paul Katzer, Warren Chen and David Bitko.
“We’re celebrating all of the work these kids have been doing in getting into STEM fields and trying to drum up support for going into STEM fields,” Katzer said of the event.
The featured speakers, he said, would talk about “the STEM professions, why they got into it, how they got interested in it and how they can inspire others to get interested in it.”
