Session

202 - Keynote Panel Discussion - Fortifying Youth for the 21st Century Workforce

Wednesday, December 9th • 8:15am — 9:00am PDT

• Tracie Dean Ponder, Founder & Executive Director, B-STEM Project
• Tracy Kennedy, Director of Marketing, Microsoft Public Affairs
• Eve Psalti, Head of Strategic Platforms, Google Cloud
• AJ Thomas, Head of People Products, Moonshot Factory
• Olivera Zatezalo, Chief Security Officer, Huawei Canada

Clearly, today’s young girls are not being adequately prepared for the kinds of careers that will dominate the 21st-century workforce, particularly jobs that require advanced technological skills. Schools are simply not designed to integrate career readiness and hands-on learning experiences that are relevant and applicable to the future – especially when it comes to equitable access to quality resources for all. We need to find more innovative and diverse ways to bring STEM / STEAM education to aspiring and emerging talent. Although closing the educational disparity and achievement gap is only one of many problems, it's unquestionably a reasonable start. Let’s talk about getting down to the business of equity in STEM / STEAM Education.