Prosthetics and Wildlife and Brain Surgery, Oh My!

Submitted by Ross. A. Lurgio Middle School:

On Friday, Oct. 11, seventh grade students at Ross A. Lurgio Middle School participated in the school’s first annual science career day. The goal of the day was to expose students to the variety of opportunities that exist for careers involving science.

In addition, organizers of the event simply wanted to get students excited about science and all it has to offer.To kick off the day, students assembled in the Bedford high school theater to listen to keynote speaker, Chris Schadler, talk about “Living Like Coyotes”.

The students learned about the coyote pack and enjoyed themselves as they learned how to howl like a coyote. From there,students rotated through two sessions of workshops run by a variety of volunteer presenters.

Below is a list of the workshops offered for the day:

• Your Art and Science Nursing Toolbox - Ann Fournier, St. Anselm College nursing professor

• Prosthetics in the 21st Century - Scott Cummings and Matt Albuquerque, Next Step Bionics and Prosthetics

• Engineering the Future?!?! - Thomas Eng, FIRST

• Who, What, When, Where, Why, How? ­Constantly Questioning Wildlife - Heidi Holman, NH Fish and Game

• So You Want to Be a CSI Hacker? - Jonathan Zdziarski, Access Data

• Genetic Counseling - Lisa Demers, Dartmouth Hitchcock

• How to Never Work Another Day for the Rest of Your Life - Catherine Crawford, Ph.D., IBM Corporation, Research Division

• Why Engineering is Wicked Cool Andy Violette, BAE Systems

• Trauma and Stroke: Nursing in an Emergency Department - Sue Barnard, nurse at St. Joseph Hospital

• Using Carbon Nanotubes - Mark Banash, Nanocomp Technologies

• Exploring the Heart: A Hands­on Experience David Goldberg, physician at Catholic Medical Center

• Inventing: Where Science & Creativity - Meet Lauren van Heerden, TD Bank

• Lake Doctor - Kendall Perkins, NH Dept. of Environmental Services

• Optical Engineers - Dante D’Amato, L­3 Insights

• The Best of Both Worlds: Science/Math and Rivers Water Resource Engineering - Bethann McCarthy, NH Dept. of Environmental Services

• Investigating and Cleaning up Hazardous Waste Bruce Campbell, Weston Solutions Computers and Magic - Jim Isaak, retiree, IEEE Member

• Bit, Scratched and Pooped On: A Career Working with Wildlife - Tiffanie Meekins, Wildlife Encounters

• Consider a Career in Orthodontics - Douglas Elliott, Elliott Orthodontics

• Careers in Medicine and Surgery ­ Science,Technology and the Art of Healing - Patricia Furey, MD FACS

• So You Want to Be a Brain Surgeon? Tarek Radwan, Neurosurgery of Southern NewHampshire

Rob Dubreuil and Amy Rockwell, organizers of the event, would like to thank the volunteer presenters, many from the Bedford community, in helping to make the day a success.  By sharing their career expertise, students were able to see the wonderful opportunities that science can create for them.