Osceola Teachers experience Sanford-Burnham

   Diane McAlister, Osceola School District; Michelle Thompson, Narcoossee Middle School; Jeriel Ortiz, Parkway Middle School; Terry Goss, Westside K-8 and Pam Wood, Osceola High School all were part of a group of 40 top middle and high school math, science and technology educators selected from 10 counties who caught a sneak peek inside the laboratories of the new Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute.
   Purpose of the April 20 event was to learn about how they can prepare and motivate their students to pursue high tech careers in the life sciences industry.
   The one-day techCAMP workshop was hosted by the Florida High Tech Corridor Council with speakers representing the organizations and institutes that make up Lake Nona’s Medical City providing an overview of biomedical technology and what the future holds for students who wish to enter the field.
   Speakers included Sanford-Burnham scientists and leaders from the UCF College of Medicine, Veterans Affairs, Nemours Children’s Clinic, Workforce Central Florida, and the Nicholson Center for Surgical Advancement at Celebration Health.    Following the tours of the Institute, the group conducted a special experiment using Sanford-Burnham’s lab equipment to extract the DNA from a strawberry. The techCAMP program demonstrated this experiment and provided examples of other curriculum-based projects for the teachers to bring back to their classrooms, and engage their students in hands-on educational activities.
   The diverse group of teachers selected to participate were named their county’s top science and math instructors in the annual PRISM Teacher Recognition Program. PRISM (Promoting Regional Improvement in Science and Math) works with the Central Florida School Boards Coalition to identify its honorees.
   "This techCAMP provides a fun way to share information about a range of technical career fields with the educators of Florida, so they can assist students in making the best choice possible for their professional future,” said Jeff Bindell, Ph.D., director of the techPATH Educational Consortium and lecturer in physics at the University of Central Florida. “The workshops help in our mission to cultivate tomorrow’s workforce.”
    The first program of its kind focused on the biomedical sector, this techCAMP is the latest of more than 50 such workshops hosted by FHTCC since 1998. More than 1,700 educators in the Corridor’s 23-county region have participated in techCAMPs in industries such as Optics & Photonics, Information Technology, Microelectronics, and Modeling, Simulation & Training.