Hispanic STEM Career Forum - Science

On October 5th the last Hispanic STEM Career Forum on Science was held and fourteen students attended.

Our first guest speaker was Elena Ortiz, Ph. D who is a full-time residential faculty member in the Biosciences Department here at Phoenix College. Elena spoke of her career as an environmental biologist. Her interest came about from hearing the sounds of birds in her native Puerto Rico. She mentioned that one of the benefits of her career is that you get to travel around the world performing various experiments and she even taught a class in Spanish. Students were very interested as she discussed various ways of taking care of the environment and other aspects of biology.

Our second guest speaker was Executive Officer Commander Alex Ortiz from the U.S. Navy. Commander Alex began his career as a Nuclear Engineer with the Navy. He said that he could retire and live well however he loves what he does that he would like to continue performing it. A student asked him how is one of his everyday work schedules like and he responded that when he was in service he had to be on base and quickly perform the duties that were assigned, but now he teaches. Through experience you go up the ranks and have more benefits. Therefore, he recommended the students to pursue higher education as with more education, comes more knowledge and a higher pay. To learn more on what he does as a Nuclear Engineer Power School Instructor, visit: http://www.navy.com/careers/nuclear-energy/nuclear-power-school.html

Lieutenant Matthew Reza is in the Navy Medical Officer Programs and he completed his nursing degree within the Navy. He is very thankful for all the support he has received from the Navy and is continuing his education as a DNP (Doctor of Nursing Practice) which is the new doctorate program in nursing as the masters will no longer be available. He emphasized that the Navy has many programs students can benefit from as they will pay for your education and the reason is due to the need to have more STEM professionals. To learn more about the various careers within the Navy, visit: http://www.navy.com/careers/

The USB winner: Edgar Villarreal

The school suppply backpack winner: Julie Sisley

"I attended a seminar orchestrated by Title V Stem program I won a backpack!  To most students a backpack is a nice gift, but for me is meant so much more. This bag having 2 big compartment allows me now to separate my math class work from my biology work.  I am now able to keep things organized in my bag so it helps me use my time more wisely. " Julie Sisley