Taking a chance on the next generation

摘要

How can water professionals leave a legacy to help future generations in the field? This Opening General Session speaker may have the answer to that question. Fredi Lajvardi is a nationally recognized science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) teacher who encouraged his students at Carl Hayden Community High School in Phoenix to enter a 2004 robotics competition that included teams from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, Mass.) and the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Blacksburg, Va.). Though the odds were stacked against them - the student population at the high school is mostly underprivileged and resources were limited - Lajvardi's Falcon Robotics team won best team overall that year. Future teams from the high school would place first, second, and third in successive robotics competitions.