Date: 09-26-2017
Students from Belfry High School met with officials of the Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative (KVEC) Sunday for what they thought would be a “test run” to show off the technology projects on which they have been working. However, the test run turned out to be the real deal as Facebook’s Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg made a surprise appearance.
Zuckerberg represented the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which he co-owns with wife Priscilla Chan, Sunday evening at the KVEC meeting held in Hazard.
Belfry High School Principal Mark Gannon said he was contacted by officials with KVEC a few weeks ago regarding its Appalachian Technology Institution (ATI) and inviting students to meet with representatives from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
“Of course, with our partnership with KVEC, we have been very involved with them for the last few years,” said Gannon. “They have really helped us grow in an innovative way rather it be computer programming, our STEAM Lab, or so forth.”
Gannon said nearly 23 students were invited from the KVEC region, with 15 of those students being from BHS. He said the students presented projects in areas including: Computer programming, drones, robotics and artificial intelligence.
“When our students, and two of our teachers, arrived there yesterday, they were informed that Mark (Zuckerberg) was actually there,” he said. “That was obviously a shock for our kids and our staff as well. It was a great experience and a great opportunity for our students to not only be able to showcase some of the skills and some of the learning that’s taking place in our school, but also be able to meet an individual who is so influential in the world today.”
Gannon said that having 15 of the more than 20 students invited being from BHS was an honor.
“I think it reinforces the innovative work we are trying to do in our school, but also goes back to our students and our teachers,” he said. “Dr. (Haridas) Chandran and Stephanie Younger are both both doing an outstanding job of actually taking advantage of some of the opportunities KVEC has offered, and our partnership with them has really been a success over the years … I feel like, over the last few years, because of our partnership with KVEC, that we have been able to expose our school, our school community, our staff and our students to some opportunities and again, the exposure to see what we are trying to do with education — to meet the needs of our students.”
Students from Belfry High’s STEAM Lab were among the group in Hazard. The STEAM Lab is made up of 24 freshmen students who spend two hours each school day working hands on in a lab setting. The students work with 3D printing and artificial intelligence, among other topics.
BHS student Ben McNamee attended the KVEC meeting Sunday. He is a student in the STEAM Lab group.
McNamee said he thought he would be presenting a group project to representatives with the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, not knowing Mark Zuckerberg would be present.
“We were all really surprised,” said NcNamee. “He was a very personable guy. He came in and he came to all of the stations of the groups … there were nine different groups, everyone but one from Belfry. he came around to each group and asked about the project.”
McNamee and his group worked with artificial intelligence in the STEAM Lab.
“We built a robot,” said McNamee. “It was an easy-build robot, so it came in a box, and it was a click-in-place. We clipped it together. We hooked all of the wires up and we programmed it ourself. Our goal is to have it help Alzheimer’s (disease) patients.”
He said the robot is designed to ask questions to patients to hopefully help with their memory. He said the robot could also help children with speech impediments. The groups has been working with the robot for nearly four weeks.
Zuckerberg visited Kentucky and West Virginia as part of his Year of Travel challenge, according to a post he made on Facebook Sunday evening.
By Josh Little
Appalachian News-Express
