STEAM program inspires future inventors at Dorchester elementary school
BOSTON - Amazing discoveries are taking place at the PA Shaw Elementary School in Dorchester. Third and fourth graders are reading and learning about inventors that look like them.
"Thank goodness John Standard improved the refrigerator because hot milk with cereal is pretty gross," eight-year-old Nailah Berthaud, read out loud.
As part of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Black History Month celebration STEAM outreach program, employees are taking part in a reading circle program focusing on Black and brown inventors and their impact on the world. They also get connect with the students throughout the school year.
"To get a chance to hang out with folks who work in the STEM industry and also see themselves in that. At their level books that center professional Black characters in the stories," Vertex Pharmaceutical Global Head of STEAM Education Melodie Knowlton said.
Nailah Berthaud says she had no idea so many African Americans invented several of the things she uses today. "It tells me that any person with a different race color can do anything as someone with another different race color can do," she said.
Through this partnership with Vertex, lessons learned in the classroom can translate into real life. These PA Shaw Elementary students are learning more about who they are what they can achieve.
"I am incredibly proud of our young students and grateful for this partnership with Vertex, which has instilled a love of reading and science in our kids. And my hope for every young student here is that they can accomplish anything that they put their minds to," PA Shaw Elementary Principal Tinu Arowosegbe said.
The program is providing inspiration through reading. "They can do anything. There is boundless opportunities for them and that they can go anywhere, that they can do anything and there is people out there to help them to get there," Vertex reader Lisa Fortes said.
Nine-year old Charlie Hobbs Camacho Brown has big goals. "I want to be a mathematician and a climber," Brown said.
Berthaud is amazed at how many new inventors she read about. "I love reading it's an opportunity to grow up and find ways to overcome life's challenges and make them better," she said.