At the Aspire 2 Teach conference held in December at Penn State Harrisburg, high school students participated in activities such as constructing DNA necklaces and building blinker circuits. They and their teachers heard from a keynote speaker who is an expert in STEM education.
In the fall of 2023, more than 100 high school students descended on the Penn State Harrisburg campus for the Aspire 2 TEACH conference. The conference, funded by the Aspire 2 Education grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Education, aimed to ignite students’ interest in STEM-CS (computer science) fields and encourage students to consider teaching in a STEM-CS discipline as a career path – while providing a great experience at the college.
Amy K. Milligan, a 2012 graduate of the doctoral program, will serve as the event's keynote speaker. Milligan is the Batten Endowed associate professor of Jewish studies and women's and gender studies and the director of the Institute for Jewish Studies and Interfaith Understanding at Old Dominion University.
