Category: education

economy, education, school, teaching

Beautiful: Keep It Positive – Another Lesson from Darden

Christa Avampato

bc2863aa70521ea32889f841ae1607c6“We have to be positive, right? What’s the alternative? Anything else is just a waste of time.” ~ Frank Warnock, my Economics professor at Darden

It’s back-to-school time and I’ve been thinking a lot about my teachers lately. I decided to reach out to them to say thank you for the incredible lessons they taught me. I wrote about my marketing professor, Robert Spekman, earlier this week and then sent him a note. Today, I want to tell you about Frank Warnock, one of my Economics professors at Darden. Frank is brilliant, but his brilliance isn’t what set him apart for me. It was his attitude.

Frank taught us the power of attitude in a class during a particularly tough case. The whole class was feeling pretty badly about the options before the main characters in the case and what they were going to have to do to save their company. Frank recognized we were going nowhere fast and to get us to buck up, he uttered the lines at the beginning of this post. They were like a lightning rod for me. These were the words I thought about all the time from 2008 – 2012 when I worked in financial services.

Attitude was, and continues to be, everything. I’ve seen it make or break so many people. My choice to be positive rather than negative, especially when it would have been so much easier to be negative, has kept me going through some very dark times.

I wrote this all out in a note to Frank and not surprisingly, he wrote back quickly. Here’s what he said:

“Hi Christa,
Wonderful to hear from you. And great to hear that you’re doing well and have found something you care about. I often think that one of the most important things Darden students need to learn is what exactly they care about, what exactly their preferences are.

I learned early on that attitude is vital. I absolutely hated a particular job about a month into it, felt that I was misunderstood by the boss, and was very close to being fired (which would have been fine with me). I then started repeating to myself over and over again, every day, “I love my job, I love my job, I love my job”. Within a week or so I forgot all about saying that…being positive helped turn everything around and more or less launched my career. Being positive is at times more difficult – it takes an extra step – but it is always the best way forward.

Best,
Frank”

Now that’s a teacher in the truest sense of the word.

creativity, education, fear, marketing, teaching

Beautiful: The Best Class You Can Take Is Practice

Christa Avampato

23252c94afced662d93d9659daff6a69 “The only way I know to get anything done is to work like hell.” ~ Robert Spekman, my MBA marketing professor at Darden

A few years back, I contemplated going back to school to get my PhD in education. Robert was one of my favorite professors at my Darden MBA program and I spent a good amount of time with him during my two years there. When I was thinking of going back to get my PhD, he was one of the first people I talked to.

He was in New York for a meeting so I met him at the restaurant of his hotel and we had breakfast together. I told him about my own history and how my education literally saved my life. I explained that I was a bit worried about applying for a PhD in a field in which I’d never formally studied. Robert told me I had the best experience of all: I lived it. He followed up the line above with this – “Take all the classes you want in any subject. Until you actually sit down and do the work, with your a*s on the line for results, it doesn’t matter.” And with that I put my fear aside and applied.

Things didn’t exactly go the way I had hoped. I only applied to one school, Columbia’s Teachers College, and I didn’t get in. (You can read about my rejection letter here.) It turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to me. And I never forgot that conversation with Robert, nor the lesson he taught me. I use his advice all the time. I’m grateful for his support, but I’m even more grateful that he didn’t coddle me with exclamations of how great I was, or intelligent, or talented, or any other load that he could have told me to just move the conversation along. He showed me that I already have what it takes to have an impact in a field that means a lot to me. I didn’t need another degree; I just needed to roll up my sleeves and get to work.

children, education, media, video games

Beautiful: Short Film I Worked on For National STEM Video Game Challenge

Christa Avampato

Hi all – fun video post today. This is the short film I worked on for the National STEM Video Game Challenge. It highlights the incredible work of kids in New York City who attended our fantastic workshops on video game design. It clocks in at just under 5 minutes and the insights from these kids will leave you hopeful about our future. Let me know what you think!

education, media, science

Beautiful: My Review of the 2013 White House Science Fair

Christa Avampato
Wilfried Hounyo (left) and Golden Rockefeller pictured with Charles Bolden, Administrator of NASA, a retired US Marine Corps General, and former NASA astronaut

From a water filtration system powered by a stationary bike to a writing system that aids those afflicted by neurological hand tremors, the White House was brimming with the creations of young innovators at the third annual White House Science Fair. One hundred students from 40 different states attended the event, proudly accompanied by their teachers, parents, and mentors. It’s hard to overestimate the excitement of being invited to the White House by President Obama. I’m not sure who was more thrilled – the students or the adults – to be in those hallowed halls, sharing our passion for STEM education and careers.

Why would the White House host a science fair? President Obama plainly and earnestly made the case for this event, which he refers to as one of his favorite events of the year.

“If you win the NCAA championship, you come to the White House. Well, if you’re a young person and you produce the best experiment or design, the best hardware or software, you ought to be recognized for that achievement, too.”

Three of the 2012 National STEM Video Game Challenge winners attended the event. Gustavo Zacarias, a middle school student from San Antonio, Texas, built The Dark Labyrinth on Kodu and was invited to exhibit his video game at the fair. The Dark Labyrinth is a 3-D maze that players navigate by solving math challenges. Gustavo began playing video games at age 4, and plans to build a career as a video game designer.

“I never thought I would be exhibiting my game at the White House,” said Gustavo. “I worked very hard during the making of the game and was very happy about winning a national competition, so I’m very excited and thankful for the opportunity to be part of this great event.”

Gustavo was joined by two students from the D.C.-area, Golden Rockefeller and Wilfried Hounyo, who won the Open Platform high school category of the National STEM Video Game Challenge. Golden is now a 16-year old freshman at University of Delaware studying mechanical engineering. Wilfried, a junior in high school, is currently looking at Berkeley, Stanford, and Penn State, where he plans to study computer science as a path to eventually work for NASA. Their game, Electrobob, teaches players about the nature of electrons by combining subject matter from physics, chemistry, and robotics.

Halfway through the fair, all attendees were escorted into the East Room to hear President Obama speak about the importance of STEM education and his continued financial and program support for it. Wilfried and Golden joined President Obama on stage as he repeatedly stated how amazed and inspired he was by all of the students at the fair.

“Young people like this have to make you hopeful about the future,” he said.

The President made several significant announcements during his speech:

  • A new AmeriCorps program focused on STEM education.
  •  The launch of US2020—a campaign by ten leading education nonprofits and U.S. technology companies to encourage companies to commit 20 percent of their STEM employees to 20 hours per year of mentoring or teaching by the year 2020.
  • The Summer of Making and Connecting program will encompass more than 1,000 summer learning events hosted by leading education-based organizations; the Joan Ganz Cooney Center of Sesame Workshop is one of the organizations involved.

The President concluded the event with a simple, powerful statement that resonated with teachers, parents, and mentors all around the country.

“We’ve got to do everything we can to make sure that we are giving these young people opportunity to pursue their studies and discover new ways of doing things. And we’ve got to make sure that we’re also leaving behind a world that is safer and cleaner and healthier than the one we found. That’s our obligation…students, we could not be prouder of all of you.”

Check out my collection of my photos from the 2013 White House Science Fair

creativity, education, science

Today I am at the White House Science Fair

Christa Avampato

20130421-230213.jpgToday it is my extreme pleasure and honor to attend the White House Science Fair. I currently consult at the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at the Sesame Workshop. At the Cooney Center, I manage a program called the National STEM Video Game Challenge. Students in grades 5-12 submit video games that utilize STEM skills. Several of our winners from last year’s Challenge have been invited to exhibit and attend. I am thrilled beyond words by their accomplishments!

There are a few ways to follow the event from anywhere in the world:

Watch the live feed: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/04/20/watch-live-2013-white-house-science-fair

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/STEMChallenge and the hashtag #WHSciencefair

Follow us on Facebook: http://Facebook.com/STEMChallenge

I hope you’ll join in the fun and celebrate the ingenuity and creativity of these students. They are our greatest hope for a brighter future!

childhood, creativity, education, New York City, play

Beautiful: The Virtues of a Life Lived in the Mud

Christa Avampato

I grew up in the dirt, literally. There was (and still is) a tractor crossing sign across the street from the house where I grew up. My rural hometown fostered a childhood that involved climbing trees and making mud pies. When I was little, I was convinced that there was a dinosaur skeleton hiding under the ground in my backyard. I enlisted my sister, Weez, to help me dig and dig and dig. All we found was a small mouse skeleton, but I thought it was clearly a prehistoric mouse! Other kids wanted to be doctors, firefighters, or teachers. I wanted to be a paleontologist. I still do.

My childhood was far from idyllic, but there were some very positive things about growing up in the sticks. I got my hands dirty in the process of making things. I ate organic food because that’s really all there was, not because it was trendy. Animals were my friends and companions, as much as people. Maybe even more than people. I learned to appreciate the Earth, her majesty and her power. Weather was a way of life, and I still watch it with fascination and wonder.

An article in the New York Times last weekend talked about a movement in this fine and fair city I now call home to bring more nature into the lives of city kids not by taking them out of the city, but by bringing nature to them. Brooklyn Forest, a husband and wife startup, “takes toddlers into Prospect Park to promote learning through creative play like building teepees out of branches.” 7 students were in their first class. Now there are over 200. More people are eager to get into mud these days; I was a pioneer.

There’s something to be said for the slow life, the life we build rather than the life we buy shrink-wrapped and delivered right to our doorstep. Creation builds confidence and bolsters the imagination. It makes us self-sufficient. I’m all for it, for our children and for us. There’s a lot of beauty down there in the mud.

child, children, choices, education, teaching, technology

Beautiful: Teaching Kids to Code Will Create a More Peaceful, Healthier, Happier World

Christa Avampato
from http://learninggamesnetwork.org
from http://learninggamesnetwork.org

At the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at the Sesame Workshop, I work on the National STEM Video Game Challenge, a youth game making competition for students in grades 5 – 12 that runs through April 24th. Everyone I talk to about the Challenge is interested in why I chose to leave my corporate job to work on projects like the STEM Challenge. There is a very simple, concise explanation – to help kids build a better world.

With our world becoming increasingly complex, technology is playing a larger and larger role. Soon, knowing how to code will be as much of a requirement for employment as knowing how to use basic computer programs like Excel and Microsoft Word. In short, engineering will become a part of every professional field. People who build products and services using technology, or who at the very least understand at a deep level how technology works, will have the greatest influence over the global economy. A stable economy creates a stable world.

The best way to engage children with technology in a healthy, meaningful way is through games that are fun to play and teach them important skills like reading, writing, language, design, science, and math. With these skills in their back pockets, they will not only have a better understanding of the world around them but will be able to shape the world in which they wish to live. They will be empowered to build strong, healthy communities and they will be able to connect with, learn from, and share their experiences with people across the globe.

Learning to code is the key. Sit down with the children in your life, whether you are a parent or other family member, teacher, mentor, or afterschool program volunteer. Show them how technology can help to change their world for the better. The STEM Challenge will give you a place to begin. Let us help you and your kids get started today.

children, education, game, gaming, school, science, teaching, technology, video games

Beautiful: The Launch of the National STEM Video Game Challenge

Christa Avampato

5367881478-1I’m excited to announce that the National STEM Video Game Challenge, the project that I work on at the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, is now open and accepting submissions. The deadline to enter is April 24th and we will hold a culminating awards event in June. It is free to enter and students can work on their own or in teams.

The STEM Challenge is a youth video game making competition that encourages kids in grades 5 -12 to submit playable video games. Last year, the Challenge attracted almost 4,000 submissions. All the of details about the Challenge, a listing of free game making workshops happening across the country, and a host of resources to help kids, as well as their teachers, parents, and mentors, create games are available at the STEM Challenge website: http://stemchallenge.org. If you are interested in being a judge, are a game making professional, or are interested in doing outreach for the Challenge, I would love to hear from you!

Please let me know if you have any questions. I’ll be glad to answer them. I can’t wait to see what you create. Let the games begin!

books, children, community, economy, education, family, leadership, legacy, literature, philanthropy, time

Beautiful: John Wood’s Incredible Mission to Create Room to Read for Millions of Kids Around the Globe

Christa Avampato

9780670025985_p0_v1_s260x420Ten years go, John Wood embarked on a courageous journey. He left his job at Microsoft for one simple reason: so that “children everywhere have access to literacy and books in their mother tongue from a young age.” Sound audacious to you? It did to Charlie Rose as well. “Every child,” Charlie repeated in an interview with John. “Every one, without exception,” John said.

It is that kind of resolve, focus, and elegant vision that I find so exhilarating and inspiring. As a nonprofit founder, fundraiser, and a consultant who works with a number of nonprofits, I also know how hard it is to identify and maintain. John will not be deterred. It is his commitment to the children of this world that has allowed Room to Read, his nonprofit, to open 10,000 libraries around the world in 10 years. 10,000. It is astonishing.

In 2007, John wrote the book Leaving Microsoft to Change the World: An Entrepreneur’s Odyssey to Educate the World’s Children. Today, his new book, Creating Room to Read: A Story of Hope in the Battle for Global Literacy, goes on sale. It has valuable information for everyone who has ever cared about a cause or mission, for-profit, non-profit, or otherwise. It’s a story about the value of a dream and the determination to make it real. John talks about his all-star team, their site evaluation process, and what it truly means to work side-by-side with people you want to help in pursuit of a common goal. In equal parts, he gets down into the details about his fundraising and management philosophies and then shares his powerful emotions such as his misty-eyed moment when the 10,000th library opened in Nepal with his parents by his side.

John’s story is inspiring for all of the goodness he conveys though he is not shy about the hardships he, his staff, and the communities face. Global literacy is a battle in every sense. Moving into Africa was a particularly harrowing decision and an even more harrowing process. His team literally risked their lives to make it happen. In countries like Cambodia, 43% of grade-three students in his country could not read at an age-appropriate level. Statistics like this led Room to Read’s mission and activities to evolve. It wasn’t enough to build libraries and furnish them with books. First, they had to teach people to read. Without literacy programs, the libraries would be of zero value to half the population.

Once I cracked open this book, I couldn’t put it down. Nose pressed against the pages, I would look up and realize that hours had gone by. After a while, I stopped using my highlighter because I was highlighting every sentence. John Wood and Room to Read are paving the way toward a brighter future. Thank goodness he left Microsoft to change the world. With this book, I’m certain he will inspire many people to take up a cause that matters and make it their life’s work. And we will all be better off for it.

design, education

Beautiful: My Article on Innovative School Design for the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop

Christa Avampato
The Facade of the East Harlem School. Photo: Eric Freeland.
The Facade of the East Harlem School. Photo: Eric Freeland.

I recently visited the NYU Center for Architecture to see The Edgeless School exhibit. The exhibit highlights innovations in the design of schools all over the country. If you’re interested in design, architecture, or education, have a look and let me know what you think. Good snow day reading! Click here to access the article.