La Palma AAUW sponsored Tech Trekkers spotlighted

Pictured at the Oct. 2 ABCUSD board meeting are, back row (L to R), Board Members Maynard Law, Chris Apodaca, Ernie Nishii and Leticia Mendoza. Front row (L to R) are AAUW Member Celia Spitzer, ABCUSD Board President Son Yoo and Board Member Sophia Tse, Ross Tech Trek Campers Ariana Muniz-Austin and Edrianna Simbol, AAUW Member and Whittier Tech Trek Camp Dorm Mom Tobi Balma, Board Member Dr. Olga Rios, and ABC Superintendent Dr. Mary Sieu.

During the “Spotlight on Teaching and Learning” portion of the Oct. 2 Board of Trustees meeting of the ABC Unified School District Board meeting, Superintendent Dr. Mary Sieu introduced Celia Spitzer. Spitzer is the La Palma-Cerritos branch of the American Association of University Women’s (AAUW) Co-Coordinator of the branch’s Tech Trek Committees. Spitzer thanked Dr. Sieu for the support received from the teachers and principals of ABC’s Title I schools in requesting nominations of girls who might be eligible to attend a one-week Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) Camp this past June at Whittier College.
Spitzer introduced Tobi Balma, a charter member of the La Palma-Cerritos AAUW. This was the third year that Balma as served as a dorm mom at Whittier College. Balma had prepared a brief powerpoint presentation to accompany what she, and the girls who were selected to attend the camp, had to say about the Tech Trek Camp. She also served as moderator for the girls during the presentation.
The presentation spotlighted the two eighth grade ABC girls who were sponsored by the La Palma-Cerritos AAUW branch to attend the Tech Trek Camp at Whittier College this summer. The two girls who were selected were Ariana Muniz-Austin and Edrianna Simbol, both from Ross Middle School. They were nominated by their science teacher, Rebecca Souza, for their interest and aptitude in STEM subjects.
The girls discussed their experiences at the Tech Trek Camp and how they felt about living in a dormitory for the first time. They commented on the weeklong core classes they attended about Food Science and Neuroscience. The girls said that they learned many things on their field trips to Cal Poly Pomona and the Whittier Cadaver Lab. They also told about their favorite professional woman, whom they listened to on Professional Women’s Night, and what Tech Trek meant to them.
The professional women who came on Professional Women’s Night included a zookeeper, a physician and medical researcher, a business consultant, a CPA, a rocket design engineer and an executive producer for Awestruck-YouTube. As a result of meeting these women, Ariana now wants to be a physician and medical researcher, and Edrianna said that she loved animals and wants to be a veterinarian.
Ariana said that she learned that failure is not bad, and it could be one step closer to success. She said that she was a perfectionist before Tech Trek and was hard on herself when she made a mistake. Now she will adapt and learn from her mistakes to be successful the next time. Edrianna said that she gained more confidence in herself at Tech Trek and in addition to self-confidence, her biggest takeaway from Tech Trek is that, “It’s alright to be a nerd!”
She saw, and liked, that everyone was a nerd at Tech Trek.
Balma ended the presentation to the board by saying that ABCUSD should be proud of preparing Ariana and Edrianna academically so that they were well-prepared to go to the STEM Tech Trek Camp this year. She said that the La Palma-Cerritos AAUW is working to raise funds so that more middle school girls will be able to go to the next Tech Trek Camp. Since each camp sponsorship will cost $950 next year, the more money that can be raised will enable more girls to go to the camp in June of 2019.
Balma thanked Superintendent Dr. Sieu and the members of the Board of Trustees for inviting the girls and the La Palma-Cerritos AAUW members to speak at the meeting. For more information about the La Palma-Cerritos AAUW and sponsorships for the Whittier Tech Trek Camp, contact Tobi Balma at 562-865-8675.