In support of the goal to provide students with college, career, and community readiness, Nipmuc Regional High School is excited to announce this year’s first full-day 21st Century Learning Conference. The conference will take place for all students on Friday, March 4th. With a theme of Connected Learning, the conference is designed to further develop the employability skills and knowledge so highly desired in college and the workplace in an authentic conference experience.
Senator Michael Moore will address students from 12:30pm-1:30pm regarding the vital importance of civic involvement at all ages, complementing the mock town meetings being held earlier in the day under the direction of Upton Town Clerk, Kelly McElreath and Mendon Town Moderator, Jay Byer with input from State Representative David Muradian. Students from Nipmuc’s Model United Nations club developed the student-centered warrant for the meeting under the direction of their advisor, Mr. Brian Moloney, and with the coaching of McElreath and Byer.
Nipmuc’s industry partners such as EMC, Waters Corporation, Teradyne, iRobot, AbbVie Corporation and Late July Snack Foods, to name a few of the over 30 participating in the event, will offer hour-long hands-on workshops and participate in a career and college fair throughout the day. For example, AbbVie Corporation engineers will conduct an interactive workshop that explores the key attributes of high performance teams and common pitfalls. STEM professionals from Boston Scientific (Marlborough, MA) will be leading a workshop to discuss careers at Boston Scientific and the importance of different roles in creating medical devices. “I am really excited about the opportunity to practice the networking skills I learned at the November conference,” said Nipmuc freshman Michelle Goddard.
Several colleges and universities will also present workshops to provide attendees with a taste of what can be expected at college including WPI’s presentation on bioinformatics, UMass Medical’s presentation on scientific habits of mind, and Western New England University’s session on acing the college interview.
Mendon/Upton faculty and school committee members have collaborated with the community to present topics on workplace readiness, employability skills, and future planning. Senior Christopher Bechara said he was excitedly anticipating a session by Phillip DeZutter, CDO and CEO Platforms for Prodigious, a firm which produces Super Bowl advertisements, who will be presenting “A Winning Formula for a Winning Super Bowl Ad”.
In discussing the day Principal John Clements stated, “This conference is a great example of how partnerships between schools, community leaders, and professionals can provide powerful opportunities for real-world learning.” The workshops will be no larger than twenty-five students, providing opportunities for students to interact with presenters. Nipmuc’s senior STEM and Humanities Scholars will attend a “Networking Lunch” in the Professional Development Center with interested guest presenters providing a real-world opportunity to practice learned networking skills. Nipmuc’s Associate Principal Mary Anne Moran stated, “We are so excited to hold our second 21st Century Learning Conference which will provide our students unique opportunities to network with professionals. This event will expand our students’ understanding of college and career readiness.”
We encourage you to view the schedule for the day at nipmuc21stcenturylearningco2016.sched.org/ . The schedule provides information about sessions, presenters, and community partners. Students will have the opportunity to plan their individualized learning experience at the conference by selecting sessions prior to Friday.
To simulate an actual conference experience, students signed up for sessions via sched.com a now familiar task for these students who have been building their professional skills all year. As with previous conferences, students are expected to have proper attire as well as to complete evaluations post conference to receive credit. Regardless of what they pursue immediately following high school, we want all of our students to be prepared for successful careers. The 21st Century Learning Conference is designed to complement both classroom and authentic experiences offered to the students at Nipmuc Regional High School, said Beth Hennessy, Career and Community Coordinator for Nipmuc Regional High School.
UPTON DAILY 