This past summer, 9-year-old Ava Jalvan started constructing a small city with dried spaghetti and marshmallows. Jalvan says it was her favorite activity that day.
“I like math — multiplication and long division — and in science, I like anything,” said Jalvan.
Javlan made her project when Samsung Austin Semiconductor’s College Orientation Recruitment Program (CORP) engineers helped dozens of Taylor Independent School District students with various crafts and activities, such as making paper airplanes and constructing structures with nothing but pasta and marshmallows.
“They’re helping these kids use their imaginations,” said John Matthews, Taylor ISD coordinator for Family Support. “They’ve built rockets, a cat, a shoe. It’s just amazing what they can do.”
CORP engineer Jonathan Rupert was able to put his physics degree to work by helping the student who built the rocket.
“Watching them build these structures, I learned a lot about ways to approach building things,” said Rupert. “It’s nice to see any interest in any kind of STEM and it’s cool to talk with the kids about science and engineering.”
At the other end of the table, Spanish was heard between CORP engineer Sadot Martinez Garcia and Mariela, the student he was working with to construct a 3D corazon heart she drew. As an English as a Second Language (ESL) student himself, Garcia understands the unique scenario some of the Spanish-speaking students are in.
“I think it helps me connect with the students better because from all the three groups I’ve had to talk to them in Spanish and give them instructions in Spanish,” explained Garcia.
Garcia is hoping these fun events and activities encourages more students of color to consider a career in STEM.
“When I was growing up, I didn’t get that experience at all. No experience with STEM or exposure to it. So for me, it was a very tough time during college trying to play catch up and I’m glad these programs are being incorporated so that they learn at an early stage,” added Garcia. “I spoke to two students, one wanted to be a doctor and one wanted to be an astronaut. I think activities like these pushes kids’ dreams to keep going.”
Matthews echoed the sentiments. “It’s another opportunity for them to meet and make a positive connection with an adult, and we know the more healthy inter-generational relationships you have, the more likely you are to go to a post-secondary education,” said Matthews.
While some students were constructing rockets and hearts, others were busy constructing instruments out of paper plates and corn kernels. Tiffany Zhang, a chemical engineer, helped the students make maracas and tambourines while troubleshooting any problems with an engineering lens.
“Seeing their creativity and helping them figure out different ways to solve problems that we ran into,” said Zhang. “If there’s a little issue, you don’t have to stop, there’s a way to figure it out and show them different methods to think about things.”
Zhang said she joined Samsung Austin Semiconductor’s CORP program because she really wanted to get into the semiconductor industry.
“I think with technology growing so much, it’s clearly vital to that,” she said. “With chemical engineering, I kind of eliminated all the other industries I wasn’t so keen on going into, and I just feel like the semiconductor industry is really promising and very interesting to me.”
As more Samsung employees start trickling into Taylor, Matthews hopes the partnership that is being forged will continue to grow with more mentorship opportunities.
This story is originally from Samsung Austin Semiconductor’s newsletter, “We Chip In: Taylor Edition.” To subscribe, visit https://samsung.us7.list-manage.com/subs cribe?u=2a6f507639f8b4a49e e64c4af&id=078e808439.
