Sparty on! Our Awesome Fellows Visit the Michigan State Campus

December 8, 2015
|In Cohort 2, General, Instructional Team, MSU Urban STEM
|By Chessica Oetjens

IMG_3269Saturday, December 5th was very special. Michigan State University gladly welcomed our 49 MSU Urban STEM fellows to the campus for a fun day of learning. The Chicago fellowship arrived by bus late Friday evening and settled in for a good night’s sleep at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center.  Saturday morning brought a full agenda ahead.  Most of the fellows joined us physically, while others joined us virtually. Robots were buzzing around, conversations were flying, and Quickfires were igniting. The Spartan energy was high!

The day officially began as Punya Mishra welcomed the fellows with an immense sense of energy and pride. This was only the second opportunity for the 49 fellows to be together in the same room.  It was nice to see everyone interacting, reflecting, and growing as STEM educators-together. Delora Washingtion shared, “Visiting Michigan State University really drove home that this is now my school.  I really felt like I belonged to something great.”

The day brought about a variety of hands-on activities. When asked to sum up his visit to the MSU campus, Preston Lewis shared, “This past weekend was an amazing experience.  I thoroughly enjoyed visiting the beautiful campus and celebrating the Big Ten football championship with Sparty.  The Computational Thinking activities were a blast, and who doesn’t enjoy lasers?  The robots were a treat and there was so much more. Thank you to MSU and Wipro for the fantastic weekend.”

Some of fellows made a virtual appearance! They made their way around the room by robot, fully participating in conversation and group activities.  Tracy Iammartino appreciated the value in the assistive technology. She expressed, “My favorite moment from Saturday was seeing how technology brought us the fellows who could not make the trip, they were still part of the MSU Urban STEM experience!”

The weekend concluded with a campus tour on Sunday. It was truly an exceptional weekend of learning and fun on the Michigan State campus!