High School Field Trip for Sandra Day O'Connor and Millennium

Post date: Dec 3, 2018 10:42:19 PM

On November 30th, we hosted a field trip for Sandra Day O'Connor High School and Millennium High School. To prepare for the field trip, Derek and I created an agenda, communicated with fellow faculty members, recruited student volunteers, created literature, and collected prizes. We planned 3 rotating stations for the morning, lunch in the cafe, and 2 stations for the afternoon. Our goal was to showcase our lab and inform students about the opportunities at GCC in a fun and meaningful way, so the stations included a tour, demonstrations in the lab, and a panel discussion.

The panel consisted of three former students and two current students in our program. Each student shared his/her story and answered questions. Prior to the event, I pre-planned questions for the panel and encouraged the high school students to ask questions. During the first rotation, none of the high school students asked questions and there was very little interaction between the panel and the high school students. During the rotation, I briefly met with Louise So and she suggested having the high school students introduce themselves and share their goals prior to starting. This was excellent advice. Giving the high school students the opportunity to introduce themselves really broke the ice and let us know who our audience was. The high school students asked more questions and the panel was able to relate their answers to the students. This experience demonstrates the value of getting to know your students. When you know where your students are coming from and where they want to go, you can make the information more meaningful by relating to their interests, past experiences, and aspirations.

We received great feedback from the teachers and students. Many of the students said that they did not realize how impressive our equipment was. The most meaningful feedback was in regards to the students on the panel. The high school students and teachers remarked that they could tell how passionate those students were about the program and their experience at GCC. I was really touched that those students voluntarily gave up their time to participate in this event. A few of the students even willingly missed work to attend. To me, that demonstrates the strong personal connections that my colleagues have developed with our students. I hope to facilitate and build those positive relationships with my students.

While the event was successful, not everything went according to the plan. In the future, when making an agenda for a similar event, I will budget more time for each station. We ran out of time and ended up having to skip one of the sessions in the afternoon. I look forward to sharing our excellent students, faculty, and facilities with more high school students in the future.