WISE the Magazine Volume 1 Issue 2 by Cynthia Dale

WISE THE MAGAZINE

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A CELEBRATION OF WOMEN IN SCIENCE & ENGINEERING VOLUME 1 ISSUE 2

WISE MISSION WISE was founded with the mission of promoting equity and access in STEM education. It serves to promote, encourage & support female students with interests in math, science, technology & engineering through opportunities, mentorship and fellowship.

Table of Contents 04

Senior Spotlight

Alumni In Focus

Next Stop...College!

Life After High School

Take A Closer Look At One Future STEM Leader

What Does STEM In College Look Like?

WTHS Senior Pursues Her Dream At Del Val

WTHS Alumni Reflects On Her First Year In College

WISE Profile Electrical Engineer & WTHS Alumni Gets Real About STEM Careers

Get Involved

WTHS Robotics Team Finishes The Season Strong

Fast Fashion Part 2

Sustainable Shop

WTHS Events

In The News

Creating A Sustainable Fashion Future

High School Freshman Creates Green Fashion

Science Day Is Back

Delaware's Dr. Sandra Gibney Named One Of USA Today's Women Of The Year

Herstory

Opportunities

A Look At One Woman Who Paved the Way

Upcoming Advancement Opportunities

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SENIOR SPOTLIGHT Laura Orland PLANS FOR NEXT YEAR? Cornell University and participating in the Cornell Tradition Fellowship! FUTURE CAREER PATH? Work in the energy sector, so I am studying Environmental Engineering and am hoping to minor in Sustainable Energy Systems. I hope to work as an engineer and help urban or impoverished communities get affordable access to sustainable energy. FAVORITE CLASS AT TENNENT? AP Calc BC with Mrs. Martin! ADVICE FOR UNDERCLASSMEN? The most important advice I have for underclassmen is to get involved and to be aware of your limits! High school is a great time to explore your interests, make new friends, and find the things you're passionate about. Tennent has so many activities and opportunities for everyone. Getting involved is one of the best things you can do, and it can help you get out of your comfort zone and make some of your closest friends. On the same note, don't pile too much on yourself. Believe me, you can't do it all! Prioritize your health and wellbeing before all else, because running on half an hour of sleep for weeks at a time just to finish an assignment isn't the way to do things. Pace yourself, manage your time, and don't try to be a superhero! Free time is important, so don't forget to include some in your schedule.

STEM CREDITS Honors Chemistry Honors Geometry Intro to Engineering Design Honors Algebra 2 AP Chemistry Honors Precalculus AP Computer Science Principles Basic Robotics AP Computer Science A Honors Physics AP Physics AP Calculus BC

Alumni in Focus

WTHS Class of 2018

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Penn State BS in Statistical Modeling Data Sciences with a minor in Linguistics

WISE: How was your college experience? Would you recommend Penn State? I would be lying if I said college was all "fun and rainbows" because there are definitely times when you just want to crawl in a ball and cry. That being said, college may not be the "best 4 years of your life", but it's pretty close to it. I've made a lot of lifelong friendships and have my fair share of wild memories that I will always remember with great fondness.

Now that you are about to graduate College - If you could talk to your 9th grade self, what advice would you give? Don't get fixated on the one thing you're good at because you'll miss out on all the other opportunities and interests around you that you can pursue.

W T H S '1 8

Penn State has a lot of resources, so you just have to be proactive about going after what you want. I'd definitely recommend this school for those who want to have control over how they would like their four (or more) years to be. It's big, which can be intimidating, but you'll find your own niche. Just try to step out of your comfort zone and you'll love everything the school provides!

Was there any class at WT that you are really glad you took before college or that helped you prepare for college? I would say AP Calc BC, and AP Lit because both prepared me for the workload of college courses and the expectations that college professors would have.

Interview by Taylor Mensch '23

Next Stop.... College!

WTHS Senior Pursues Her Dream Hello, my name is Alexandria Galati and this fall I will attend Delaware Valley University majoring in Small Animal Science. The program at Del Val will put me on track for graduate school to achieve my Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine. Becoming a veterinarian is rated as one of the most challenging paths to choose within the academic realm due to stringent competition. I know Del Val can help me achieve this goal with in-depth, hands-on training. When I was younger, I participated in a camp at Del Val where I got to work with cows, horses, and cats which made me fall in love with the school. Del Val has a robust curriculum with a requirement for handson learning and a large variety of animals to work alongside. The university is well respected in the science field while maintaining small class sizes to foster individualized education and leadership opportunities. This fall, the first semester of my freshman year, I will be taking classes like Biological Science and General Chemistry. I feel like I will be well prepared for these courses as I

have taken multiple math and science classes at Tennent. In addition to rigorous courses such as Physics, Anatomy & Physiology, Forensics, Honors Chemistry, AP Biology, and AB Calculus, I have participated in the AP Capstone program. This class requires an in-depth research project related to a field of interest. Research is a big part of veterinary medicine and the fact that I have actually conducted research at a high school level is immensely beneficial. I researched and questioned ‘How can a dog's behavior differ based on how expensive their diet is?’ which looks great to colleges while applying to a pre-vet program. I have also joined multiple science clubs, including WISE and the Science National Honor Society, which has just grown my love for science. I am so excited about this new chapter in my life and cannot wait to pursue my dream of becoming a veterinarian. 06 WISE

LIFE AFTER HIGH SCHOOL

WISE

ALYSSA WILLIAMS WTHS CLASS OF 2021 Former WTHS WISE Club member Alyssa Williams is finishing up her first year of college at Nova Southeastern University, located in Davie, Florida. According to the NSU website, the school is "classified as a research university with 'high research activity' by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. NSU is 1, of only 50 universities nationwide, to also be awarded Carnegie's Community Engagement Classification, and is also the

largest private, not-for-profit institution in the United States that meets the U.S. Department of Education's criteria as a Hispanic-serving Institution." WISE asked Alyssa about her freshman year, so far from home. WISE: What are you studying at Nova? AW: Marine Biology (Nova's location on the coast makes it the perfect place to study life in water). WISE: What is your favorite part of studying Marine Biology? AW: I like the labs and the hands-on work. WISE: What science classes did you take in High School? AW: I took biology, AP biology, chemistry, anatomy, forensics, oceanography, and neuropsychology. WISE: What do you wish you knew about college before you got there? AW: College is a lot less actual work like worksheets and homework. There's a lot more independent studying than in high school.

W TH S ' 21

Marine Life by Hiroko Yoshii

WISE PROFILE

WISE

Melinda Berardi

Temple University Electrical Engineering Employed by Lockheed Martin

WTHS Class of 1999

WISE: Have you always been interested in STEM? When I was young, I took apart a simple clock and put it back together. Since then, I have been interested in learning how things work. In high school I had varied interests; I played trumpet in several of the bands at WT, I really enjoyed Spanish class, and I excelled at math. When I started college I had no idea if I wanted to get a degree in music, Spanish, or engineering and it took some careful contemplation on what I wanted my future to look like to figure it out. I decided on engineering and got a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Temple University.

( G l e it e

What is the coolest thing about working in a STEM field? The most challenging? The best thing is getting to design and deliver a solution that solves a problem. When I help deliver something to a customer it makes a

ar di

What do you do for a living? I am a Systems Engineer. I have done a variety of jobs in the 17 years since I graduated, including cable design, communication systems analysis, requirements development, testing, troubleshooting, and user training. I currently lead a team of about 12 people and we are working to design, develop, and test a system that will allow our government customer to securely transmit their data from a variety of locations back to end users.

meaningful impact to them. The most challenging thing is making sure your solution actually solves the problem, and that it’s solving the right problem! Sometimes a customer doesn’t know how to define their problem and they don’t have clear requirements, so you have to work backward to help them define their needs before you can start on a solution. *Berardi's inherited surname is Gleiter

What does a typical day at work look like for you? On a typical day, I do a lot of project planning, coordination, and collaboration with the team I lead. The team consists of several engineering disciplines, including systems, software, hardware, cybersecurity, and integration and test. I may be reviewing a product that a discipline is developing, like requirements, drawings, or test procedures, or I may be discussing a trade study that we are evaluating for part of the design. I tend to have a lot of discussions with others on the team to work together on various things throughout the day. If you could go back and talk to yourself in high school what would you tell yourself? I would tell my high school self to stop being such an under-achiever! Although I did well in high school, I did not push myself and was satisfied with classes that were just-hard-enough so I wasn’t bored in class, but I didn’t have to study much at home. I didn’t even take calculus in high school, in part because it conflicted with the band schedule. Given the choice between band and calculus, I chose band. Even though I tested into calculus in college, I had a steep learning curve to catch up with my classmates who were already familiar with the concepts. Between learning how to study and catching up with my peers, I had a stressful first semester in college. What message would you like to send to teenage girls with aspiring STEM majors/careers? If you are thinking of getting into a STEM field, there are so many opportunities to help you decide what you might want to do. Many companies offer summer internships to college students, and some extend these to high school students as well. Often times they hire summer interns the fall before, so don’t miss out! Research a company that you think you might want to work for someday and see what opportunities they have. Some companies and other organizations offer mentorship programs for students, specifically females, interested in STEM to help them figure out what major or career they might want to pursue. Many companies really want to encourage more females to pursue STEM careers, so take advantage of what is available. What high school courses helped you the most on your career path? When I attended WT, there weren’t any engineering courses offered. Trigonometry is something that I have used often in my career, as well as physics. Writing has also been very important. Believe it or not, engineers have to do a lot of writing for a variety of reasons, and clear and concise writing is a very useful skill. An engineer who can write well never fails to impress! 09

WISE

Interview by Jacqueline Faulk '22

WISE

GET INVOLVED

Each year the team builds a robot to compete in the FIRST Robotics Competition. The tasks the robot must complete change each year. This year the team had to build a robot that would be able to navigate around the field, shoot a ball into an upper or lower hoop, and traverse through metal bars of different heights. To complete these tasks the team breaks up into four smaller groups each devoted to one part of the competition. The design team creates the end design for different parts of the robot. The mechanical team constructs the robot itself. The electrical team handles the wiring of the robot and the programming team writes the code to control the robot.

Story By: Kristen Martinez

William Tennent’s First Robotic team, number 6808, recently finished their active season for this year. Tennent’s team is one of the newer teams in the Mid-Atlantic distract as the team was only started in 2018.

There are also smaller subteams for safety and business. Because the team is fairly small often members of one of the groups help out and learn from the others. Emma Castellano, a current member of the business and mechanical team and next year’s project manager, stated "even though you work in a certain group, you understand how all the other groups (work and you further your) knowledge not just in the programming team but also mechanical, electrical”. At competitions, the team works together in an alliance with two teams from

other schools to complete the tasks and earn ranking points. By the end of the season, students have had the opportunity to learn an entirely new set of skills. It is fascinating to see how other teams design their robots completely differently even though they were given the same parameters to complete the task. The robotics competitions are full of inspiration for building robots and machines to help make impossible tasks possible. Team 6808 is small but strives each season to do their best and work together to build an amazing robot. Through the help of their mentors, sponsors, school, and FIRST Robotics, they managed to build an astonishing robot that had the opportunity to compete in the finals at their last competition of the season. As the skills of the team improve they hope to come back even stronger next season.

“If you're beautiful, you're led to believe that you can't also be smart. But you can be fun and fit and social and be really smart. And the smarter you are, the more capable you'll be to handle whatever challenges come up in life.“

Photo: creative commons attribution

WISE WORDS

Danica McKellar

Mathematician, Actress, Author

Creating a Sustainable Fashion Future Although fast fashion carries numerous negative concerns, there is still hope for a cleaner, brighter future. The solutions to these concerns revolve around sustainability. Sustainability is defined as the idea of being clean for the environment by protecting its natural resources, and not depleting them. The market for sustainable fashion has been steadily growing over the past few years, and it is projected to grow exponentially in the upcoming years.

By Danielle Breiner

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Part Two: Be A Part Of The Solution One way to start living a sustainable lifestyle and decreasing your carbon footprint is to buy from small local shops instead of large manufacturers. The goal of huge corporations is to make the largest profit they can which means employing cheap labor and

spending

less

materials

and

manufacturing.

supporting small businesses, the consumer has a better chance of receiving a high-quality item that will last. Another opportunity to live sustainably is to recycle and upcycle used clothing. Not only will this help reduce greenhouse gases, as you bypass the manufacturing process, but it will keep discarded clothing out of landfills. If more people regularly recycled, it would be equivalent to one million cars off of the road, leading to the restoration process of the planet. Today, thrifting has become a popular trend that is both good for the planet and your wallet. It decreases the need for the overproduction of new clothing by slowing the demand, and it reuses clothing that already exists. This once again reduces carbon emissions, landfill space, and wasteful packaging used for clothing. Thrifting is cheaper than buying from huge corporations as well.

The large fast fashion industries have built their empires through maximizing trends and abusing society's wasteful mentality. The products and waste created by textile industries are extremely harmful to the environment, and the consumer. They mass produce their clothing cheaply and as fast as possible. It pollutes the Earth through excessive amounts of wasteful energy and materials. To improve this issue, people should take into consideration the products they are purchasing and the way they impact the planet. Being more environmentally conscious will improve the conditions on Earth. This action will encourage others to be environmentally friendly as well. Discover innovative ways to conserve and lengthen the lifespan of clothing, shop from sustainable brands and businesses, and donate clothing rather than disposing of it. Find what works for you to contribute to the growth of a sustainable world, and kindness to the planet will lead to a brighter, better future.

Sustainable Shop

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Rock and Pop Vintage is a successful online Etsy shop full of curated vintage and antique goods, specializing in clothing. I’m Izzy Walls, the owner of Rock and Pop Vintage. I was introduced to vintage clothing on a whim and entirely by chance. It all started when I wanted to venture down into Philly just to visit a singular vintage brick and mortar. One turned into two, which turned into three, and finally ended in five different stops. Just within a few hours, I was hooked. My curation of vintage items wouldn’t be sold until later on, sometime in the early stages of 2019, and once it started, it never stopped. It started off small, as I would only find pieces for myself, but once people became interested in my finds I listed a few pieces for sale on Etsy. There was no boom of success or instant gratification, but, by the time I began to tweak and practice the necessary skills, such as research, sewing, restoration, dating, and pricing, my business became steady.

The entirety of my job, from the initial sourcing to the listing, includes quite a few steps. First I find potential items, this can be through digging in thrift stores, estate sales, or going through boxes of donations. I then take the clothing repair and wash them (the process depends on the age, material & wear of the item). Finally, I list them online and something old becomes new once again.

-Izzy Walls '25

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WTHS EVENTS

SCIENCE DAY IS BACK ! After a 2 year hiatus WTHS presented SCIENCE DAY to the Centennial Community on April 30.

From dissecting cow eyes to using the power of circuits to brighten a lightbulb, Science Day 2022 was a true success. Run by the members of SNHS (Science National Honors Society), Science Day gave children of all ages a chance to get hands-on and see how much fun science can be! The day included demonstrations from WTHS Robotics Team and Mr. Brokenshire, who did a liquid nitrogen science show. In addition, the Women in Science & Engineering Club (WISE) ran several planetarium shows for all to enjoy. SNHS students created and ran science stations for all children of the community to partake. Kids were even able to take some of their experiments home with them! This day wouldn’t have been possible without the help of the student officers of SNHS, along with the SNHS advisers Mr. Jayo and Mr. Beal. - Giavanna Grassey

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IN THE NEWS

Delaware doctor is named one of USA Today's women of the year Dr. Sandra Gibney, a 60 year old doctor from Wilmington, Delaware, was extremely involved in the community before and during the pandemic. Before the pandemic, Gibney did a lot of work with the homeless and those who struggle with addiction. Gibney was influenced by the shocking and startling images she came across in the emergency rooms. She saw many people overdosing and passing away, which pushed her to help lessen the risk of overdosing by giving out naloxone kits and teaching people how to administer it. Once COVID-19 hit the US, Gibney still helped distribute the naloxone kits, but also helped set up the testing and vaccination sites. Gibney also went door to door with her team to administer vaccinations in many motels in Delaware. She found this tactic useful as she also used it to help with the addiction crisis. Not only could people get vaccinated without an appointment, but the vaccinations were also free. Many people living in the motels are unable to travel or drive themselves to get the vaccine, so Gibney taking it to the motels made the vaccine more accessible. Because Gibney is part of the treatment and access committee of the Behavioral and Health Consortium, she tries to push for change and bring her ideas to light in the community. Her efforts have and still do help so many people.

By Sarah McGuckin

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HERSTORY Florence B. Seibert

STORY BY COURTNEY FOX Florence B. Seibert was an American biochemist who developed a groundbreaking procedure that reestablished the tuberculosis test and contributed to the safety measures for intravenous drug therapy. Seibert was born October 6th, 1897 in Easton, Pennsylvania. As a young girl, Seibert contracted polio, which left her with a physical impairment. She walked with a limp and had to wear leg braces. Even with her physical impairment, she was an excellent student. She graduated high school at the top of her class. She even earned a scholarship to Goucher College, which she graduated in 1918. After college, she worked as a chemist in a paper mill. There she won a scholarship to Yale and studied for her doctorate in biochemistry. During this time, it was common for patients who got a vaccine or injected intravenously to experience sudden fevers or illness during or after an injection. During Seilberts graduate work, she realized this and knew she could change it. Through hard work, she discovered this was happening because of contaminated distilled water that was used to make the solutions. Because of this, she invented a distillation process that prevented bacteria contamination. From 1924 to 1928 Seibert was a fellow at the University of Chicago. There she was a pathology instructor and continued her research in pyrogenic distilled water until she met Esmond R. Long. Long was researching and studying tuberculosis. Together, Seibert and Long relocated to the University of Pennsylvania’s Henry Phipps Institute. They had the goal of developing a reliable test that would identify tuberculosis. The previous tuberculosis test, made by Robert Koch, had numerous false negatives because of the impurities in the material. Long supervised and funded Seibert while she identified the active agent in tuberculosis as a protein.

Seibert spent years discovering a way to separate and purify the protein in Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, which would give her a purified protein derivative. This would then allow the creation of a reliable tuberculosis test. In 1934, she published her first work on the purification of tuberculin. From 1937 to 1938, she developed methods for purifying a crystalline tuberculin derivative. She continued to work on improving the process until 1940 when the process improved so much that it became the international standard for use in tuberculin tests. In 1938, she received the Trudeau Medal from the National Tuberculosis Association. In 1941, she received the Garvan Medal from the American Chemical Society. In 1943, she won the first Achievement Award from the Association of University Women. She retired from the Phillips Institute in 1959 when she and her sister moved to St. Petersburg Florida. There, she lived the rest of her life until her death on August 23, 1991.

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UPCOMING OPPORTUNITIES Check out the next few pages for amazing upcoming opportunities in our area.

If you have questions or need help with the application process, reach out to dalecy@centennialsd.org Keep an eye on those application deadlines!

Meets Every Month 2:20 -3:30 Applications for New Members in the Fall Induction in November Email Mr. Beal or Mr. Jayo with questions Bealst@centennialsd.org

Jayoig@centennialsd.org

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PICTURE YOURSELF HERE

WTHS Science National Honors Society

Women In Science & Engineering

Do you know someone

Have an idea for an article or

who should be

want to write for the next

celebrated for their

issue?

accomplishments in STEM?

Contact: dalecy@centennialsd.org