This week, teams comprised of students and mentors from 12 selected community colleges traveled to the Washington, D.C., area to, in part, learn how to pitch innovative STEM projects they developed. The Community College Innovation Challenge boot camp, sponsored by the National Science Foundation and managed in partnership with the American Association of Community Colleges, will provide the squads with expert advice about making “elevator” pitches, selling a story and understanding potential customers’ needs and preferences. They also will be coached on how to present their projects before doing so at a special reception before invited members of Congress, top-level government officials and others. The event will conclude with a judging of the presentations before an overall winner is selected. Below, we capture through a few candid photos Monday’s opening of the CCIC boot camp.
V. Celeste Carter, lead Advanced Technological Education Program director at the National Science Foundation, kicks off the boot camp with a Q&A with previous CCIC student participants. Members from community college teams in California, New Jersey and Florida get to know each other during a break between sessions.The team from San Antonio College (Texas) enjoys a laugh.Several of the CCIC participants wore shirts representing their teams and colleges.Godfrey Ssenyonga, a former CCIC team member from Frederick Community College in Maryland who now teaches at the college and works in a lab at Johns Hopkins University, chats with student participants from this year’s teams.The squad from Bergen Community College (New Jersey) has fun hamming it up for the camera. The SUNY Orange (New York) team awaits the opening panel discussion.Members of the Ohlone College (California) team discuss their project as they await the CCIC speakers.
Matthew Dembicki edits Community College Daily and serves as associate vice president of communications for the American Association of Community Colleges.
