Published in the Sept. 18 issue of Morgan Hill Life:
By John Horner
John Horner
At the Chamber of Commerce’s Education Committee meeting Sept. 6, Britton Middle School science teacher George Flores discussed with committee members the importance of inspiring Morgan Hill school students to explore the realm of scientific interests. One way to achieve this is to encourage all students to participate in the annual science fair held at middle schools in the Morgan Hill Unified School District.
Following Flores’s talk, Morgan Hill Life publisher Marty Cheek and I committed ourselves to serve as co-chairs of this year’s Morgan Hill Youth Science Fair. Cheek has a passionate interest in science that goes back to his childhood. This love of science inspired him to write technology and science stories for newspapers and magazines around the world through an international news service. And I worked as an engineer for various electronics companies for many years.
We both believe that improving scientific education in America is crucial to ensuring we have the scientists, researchers and engineers who will provide us with the innovations and technological advances we must gain in transportation, agriculture, national defense, manufacturing, communications high-tech information processing, building construction and other fundamental areas of our economy. One of the best ways to fire up the passion in young people for discovering the wonders of science is through science fairs where students learn the basics of scientific principles.
The Chamber’s Education Committee is thrilled at the opportunity to pick up the baton from the Pauchon Foundation and become the event organizing entity to carry on, and build upon, the success of this science fair program. We are especially excited about this as a vehicle to further engage the regional science and technology oriented businesses in our joint work of preparing and exciting our youth to pursue studies and careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. We are also excited about improving the visibility of this effort as a way to further promote our youth and our community through articles published in Morgan Hill Life about the science fair and its young participants.
If you are interested in helping build our young people’s interest in science by serving as a student mentor, event judge and/or financial backer for the Morgan Hill Youth Science Fair, please contact me at the Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce. Our community can take this event to the next level and support our youth while simultaneously raising Morgan Hill’s positive profile in our region.
Together, we can encourage the next generation of scientists, engineers, and researchers who live in our community to develop their personal wonder for science. “We need to empower our young people; we need to nurture their interest, their gifts and their skills,” Flores wrote in an email sent to me following this month’s Education Committee meeting. “The time has come for us to invest in our community, our future, and our young people. Communities like ours, should and will inspire great personal achievement and great social responsibility. I am very proud to be part of our community.”
John Horner is the CEO/President of the Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce. Reach him at [email protected].
