Day 3: Washington DC

Today was the big day! The reason we are in DC in the first place; to share our Ultimate Mentor Adventure experience.

The morning started out with Elaine, Mom, and I grabbing an Irish breakfast down in the Phoenix Park Hotel restaurant and then taxied over to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. After making it to the actual room where our panel was held we had some down time and Jordan and I of course took the opportunity to take our heels off. (We're still relatively inexperienced in the ways of big girl shoes.)

Soon, 11:30 rolled around and we had an audience of approximately 30 people to present to.  Re-watching the video from the week in California brought back a lot of memories that I hope can be created for more girls.

The enthusiasm of the audience members was great to see and they asked questions on how to make science interesting to kids.  At one point, three of them were discussing aloud with one another whilst the rest of the panel listened on.

The panel went splendidly and after we collected a few new contacts like Lisa Vazquez, who works at the Department of Education, and an eighth grade science “teacher of the year” from Stafford, VA.

One special treat was catching the last half of Dorris Kurns Goodwin’s talk. Acclaimed historian, author, and is the reason the Lincoln movie was a success; basically, the ideal person for women to look up to. She’s driven towards her goals, and is bursting with stories that had the whole auditorium rolling. It was a great honor to hear her journey.

Post-presentation we hiked over to a delicious Japanese restaurant called Tony Cheng. And might I say, I would highly recommend it if you’re ever in the area.

After a lively lunch it was time for hard good byes. Of course we all promised one another that we’d see each other again. I really do hope that this is true, and until that day, we will continue to make a difference each and every day by sharing the power of mentorship.

The later I stay up to blog, the less sense I will start to make, so seeing as it’s 2 in the morning I should probably hit the lights. Until tomorrow!

Day 2: Washington DC

Although today was not the day of the actual conference, it was most definitely a day to remember.

We got to sleep in until 8:30 (As far as the Ultimate Adventure goes, that’s pretty late). 

Mom and I hit up the lovely buffet and then navigated our way through DC, sweating profusely, but still managing to make it to the National Academy of Science (NAS) before 11:30.

I saw Sarah standing outside on the phone (calling me of course) and we had one of those dramatic running reunion hugs. It was quite fantastic.

Anne Merchant, the Director of Outreach and Marketing at the academy was there to meet us and introduced us to Ralph J. Cicerone, the PRESIDENT of The National Academy of Sciences! He wanted to know about what Jordan and I are doing, and told a couple of amazing stories.  He told us one about a woman who never graduated from high school and now works for NAS. It was really incredible.

 After our little chat (not actually little by any standards), we received a tour of the building including seeing the auditorium where past presidents have spoken, and the Great Hall which was ornately embellished with pictures of significant scientific discoveries. 

Continuing with the day, we had a very delicious lunch, then strolled to the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History. The phenomenal part though was going behind the scenes and learning a little about about the 600,000 mammals stored in the museum. They have the largest collection in THE ENTIRE WORLD.  Each of the cabinets picture below contains hundreds of species and this is just one hallway of one room.

We learned about secret stuff that hasn't been released to the general public. I better not say anything else, or I’ll probably have the CIA and the FBI busting down my door.

Kristofer Helgen, the Curator of the exhibit-has discovered over 100 species of mammals! He gathered a group of five female scientist to share their educational journey with us. It was insightful to hear all that they've done, and they were reassuring that we’re on the right track. Many wished they had a mentor earlier on in their career.

They shared their experiences with mentorship and how big of an impact it really does have. Speaking of mentorship, I’m going to need some sleep tonight if I want to be awaketomorrow so I better hit the sack.

Tune in for my next installment J

Day 1: Washington DC

Wow, I can’t believe I get to go on another adventure! This time, my journey will take me to Washington DC where I will be partaking in the Teaching and Learning Conference.

Representatives from Underwriter’s Laboratories and Disney along with the National Academy of Science will all be on the panel, and they chose Jordan and I because our mentors are from UL and they wanted to represent both mentors and mentees. I wish all the girls were here, but we'll do our best to fully represent the group.  We will be presenting on the power of mentor ship and I’m beyond excited to go and recap the amazing time I had in California.

Sarah will be there and that would be reason enough to go, but the fact that I get to share my journey is a privilege.

This time around it will be my mother accompanying me on my travels. She is quite the experienced business woman so this whole process is like a piece cake to her. 

We plan to tour all the national monuments and it's rumored the infamous Bill Gates will be there!

The whole point of the trip though is really about sharing how powerful mentor ship is, and to hopefully inspire others to think the same way. If people recognize the importance of mentorship, we can expand the current network to reach even more kids with the same dreams we have.

Month Later

It's been a little over a month since my last entry, and the world did not take it's time sucking me back into life as a high school student.

A few things I'm looking forward to are the starting of a club that I am heading. The whole point is to get girls in grades 3-5 interested in science through fun activities. I'm working with 3 other girls and we are each assigned a subject area to teach. Mine is Applied Science, but there is also Computer Science, Mathematics, and Robotics.

Hopefully we can get her on the road by the second week of February, but at this point, everything is tentative.

In other news, I will be attending a conference in DC this March to talk more about how incredible Ultimate Mentor Adventure was. I mean let's be honest, its pretty easy to do. I can expand when I know more.

Last little tidbit of info is that over Christmas my mom scoured 3 different stores searching for a little Lego female scientist. (They are packaged so you can't tell which of the 16 you're getting.) She randomly bought  one having given up the chase and when I opened it Christmas day it happened to be the scientist.

I happen to think that we look a lot alike. :)