Clarke Central High School science department teacher Scott Swain looks at the website for Women in Technology, a University of Georgia organization, in Room 185 on Feb. 25. The Innovation Challenge, a competition where Clarke County School District students will work to answer a prompt, was partially created by Women in Technology to improve women’s access to science, technology, engineering and math fields. “Having a specific (UGA) affiliation focused on (representing women in STEM is) important for students to see other students like them (who) are interested in how to apply real-world technology to focus on community outreach,” Clarke County School District K-12 Gifted Curriculum Coordinator Dr. Jennifer Bogdanich said. Photo by Emlyn McKinney
A team of CCHS students will compete in the Innovation Challenge at the University of Georgia on Feb. 27, an event in which students will work together to answer a prompt related to science, technology, engineering or math.
Six of Clarke Central High School science department teacher Scott Swain’s former Advanced Placement Physics I students will travel to the University of Georgia’s Studio 225 on Feb. 27 to participate in the Innovation Challenge.
The Innovation Challenge is a partnership between the Clarke County School District, the UGA organization Women in Technology and Truist Bank. CCHS, Cedar Shoals High School and the Athens Community Career Academy will each have a team of at least five students who will compete to answer a prompt related to science, technology, engineering or math.
“It’s a partnership, ultimately, that brings students to meet with UGA students and (builds) that team-like approach of community engagement,” CCSD K-12 Gifted Curriculum Coordinator Dr. Jennifer Bogdanich said. “(It’s) a hands-on experience focused on academic enrichment and real-world technology.”
“(The challenge) will teach (students) to think under pressure, come together, work together, take everyone’s strengths and see what they come up with (as) a solution.”
— Scott Swain,
CCHS science department teacher
The prompt will be assigned to teams on the day of the challenge, encouraging students to use their prior knowledge of STEM. Swain believes that this approach will showcase the team’s critical thinking.
“(The team is) gonna use what they’ve gathered thus far on their educational journey, and then take and apply it,” Swain said. “It’ll teach them to think under pressure, come together, work together, take everyone’s strengths and see what they come up with (as) a solution.”
Part of the UGA’s Women in Technology’s motivation to hold the Innovation Challenge was to increase the representation of women with an interest in the STEM field. Because of this, Swain only invited female students to compete on CCHS’ team, which Doan Duong, a CCHS junior and Innovation Challenge team member, believes is important.
“(The team has) this connection that (is) kind of unspoken. We’re all girls,” Duong said. “Since we know there’s not a lot of us in (the STEM field), we have to have each other’s backs and work together to be able to come and show people what we can do.”
