Villanova hosts the Philadelphia Area Aspirations Award

Bob Beck did it again. He wore his tux to co-host the Philadelphia Area Aspirations Award ceremony. Two years in a row, so it must be a tradition.

There were winners from last year who won again; there were new faces. The repeaters talked about college choices; the first timers were amazed at the fuss everyone was making over them. Dean Jean Ann Linney of Villanova’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences welcomed everyone. She confided later that it was great to see winners from ordinary public high schools along side winners from prestigious private schools.

The red chair came too, and had a great time as students and teachers took photos of themselves sitting on it, standing beside it, and telling its story.

The keynote speaker, Sandy Kearney, displayed a photo montage of her activities as a technical woman, flying a DC10, and exploring emerging technologies for IBM. She encouraged the students to pursue their passions and to ignore those who claim you can’t do it.

The NCWIT representative, Ronnie Caropreso, got stuck in traffic and arrived as the awards were being presented. She gave some closing remarks and urged the students to pursue their passions. Later Ronnie and Sandy were seen comparing career notes and promising to be in touch with one another.

Bob noted that two of the sponsor representatives and the keynote speaker were his former students.

The Villanova Conference Center provided a delicious dinner with the usual array of desserts. Bob had coached everyone to save room for dessert and to choose at least three different ones.

Michele Grab, the co-host from the University of Pennsylvania, was accompanied by Kate Miller, a national award winner in 2012 who is now a student at University of Pennsylvania. These women talked about the Advancing Women in Engineering program at Penn and its activities to promote computing the middle schools and high schools.

Congratulations to all of the award winners!