After the success of Valencia High School’s first-ever Hart District STEM Conference last fall, seniors Nishika Manjeshwar and Nikhilesh Kalyanaraman wanted to host this year’s STEM Conference and open their school’s doors to not just local students but to the rest of Los Angeles County.
The L.A. STEM Conference welcomed students to the Valencia High School campus last weekend to connect with high school and college-level clubs relating to STEM, other like-minded students, and real-world professionals to learn about possible STEM career pathways (science, technology, engineering and math). The conference also allowed students to show off their intellect with a research competition.
Manjeshwar worked to make this year’s event a reality with Kalyanaraman because as she worked with elementary schools to create STEM-related events and activities, she observed that students at the high school level need the same exposure.
“There aren’t like, a ton of opportunities here unless you really go looking for them,” she said. “I think it’s important for everyone to be educated on STEM because a lot of people feel kept out of it, especially if they don’t feel represented in the field.”
Many students, “usually get interested in STEM, or find out what they want to do once they get to college, but they don’t have a really good cultivation of what they want to do during high school,” added Kalyanaraman. “The conference helps. This is why we bring different disciplines of speakers just so the students can find out what they might be interested in.”
Guest speakers included Tom Begušić, a California Institute of Technology researcher in quantum computing, Soulaimane Bentaleb, the CEO of Neuron, a neurotechnology startup, and Saeed Moosavi a senior lead service engineer and instructor for electrophysiology and cardiac catheterization equipment with Boston Scientific.
Among the clubs and research competitors was the Engineering Makers Club, a group of students who focus on creating fully functional gadgets with supplies they once used in elementary school, such as popsicle sticks and pipe cleaners.
The club promotes creativity with no constraints, McKenna Leake said, adding that “school has so many different rules and criteria to everything that there’s not really a chance for you to explore creativity, this is a chance to let go.” As someone who loves the concept of engineering and also art, the club offers a combination between the two.
For Kailen Pennington attending the L.A. STEM Conference was beneficial to expanding her knowledge about the possibilities she can pursue as someone who has an interest in biology, chemistry and astrophysics.
“I never would have thought about pursuing something in neuroscience, or like architecture … so niche. It gets very specified and I never would have thought of it like that so it’s helpful,” Pennington said. She could find something that had all her interests combined, she added.
