The Fort Meade Alliance held their Spring Tech Mania on Friday, April 5 for more than 100 ninth grade students from Baltimore and Harford Counties. The event took place at Community College of Baltimore County’s Essex Campus (CCBC) and was filled with STEM presentations from FMA members.
The students were from Kenwood High School and Patapsco High School in Baltimore County; C. Milton Wright High School and Harford Technical High School in Harford County.
“Many of my students said they learned more on this field trip than any other they have been on,” said Karen Sigwart, PLTW Engineering and AP Physics Teacher at C. Milton Wright High School. “This was a great opportunity for the kids to see how what they are learning in the classroom can be applied out in the real world and how they can pursue careers in STEM.”
The STEM-centered activities and demonstrations were presented by CCBC, KeyW Corp., Lockheed Martin and Vision Technologies.
CCBC’s Cybersecurity Institute provided students information on Nova Cybersecurity Labs and put their knowledge to the test with a decryption challenge.
Students explored different techniques used to solve crimes in the CCBC Criminalistics Lab from fingerprinting to casting shoe impressions.
The students were shocked when KeyW took a photo of them, deleted it and then recovered it, showing them a fast, accurate and easy-to-use system for collecting and reviewing data in the field, in real time.
Lockheed Martin split classes into two groups — hackers and defenders — where students learned about the growing threat of cyber-attacks and how to defend against them.
Students that are Ravens fans were especially excited with the presentation from Vision Technologies as they learned about the audio-visual and security technology used at M&T Bank Stadium.
“The students were genuinely interested in the STEM career opportunities represented within our audio visual and security business units, and our work at M&T Stadium demonstrated the real-world results of STEM curriculum,” said Al Saxon, Senior Vice President at Vision Technologies. “It was a pleasure to be able to work with the students and share the opportunities.”
Tech Mania is held twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall.
Click here for photos from the event.
