NSPARC team introduces research to 8th graders at Biloxi expo
Contact: Carol Gifford
BILOXI, Miss.鈥擳eam members from 草莓视频鈥檚 National Strategic Planning and Analysis Research Center spent part of this week introducing research to 8th grade students at the Pathways2Possibilities (P2P) career expo at the Mississippi Coast Convention Center in Biloxi.
In its third year, P2P is an interactive career expo that includes 19 pathways aligned with academic clusters that students choose to study in high school. About 6,500 students from the six counties along the coast, including students from public, private, home-school and special workforce development programs and alternative schools, attended the event.
鈥淭his is the perfect time to engage students,鈥 said Karen Sock, one of the P2P organizers. 鈥淩esearch shows that students at this age are becoming more self-aware and understand what they are good at, and what they like doing in school.鈥
A new addition to the 2015 career expo, NSPARC is part of the information technology pathway, recognizing the research center鈥檚 work in software development, data analytics and data warehousing.
鈥淣SPARC鈥檚 youthful and engaging team draws students to the booth,鈥 Sock said. 鈥淭he computer-based coding game is fun and involves teaching and skill. A lot of 8th graders have an interest in technology.
鈥淭echnology is important because every single one of the career pathways available to students will have a technology component,鈥 she added. 鈥淓nergy, medicine, engineering, human services 鈥 all will involve the use of technology.鈥
Domenico 鈥淢immo鈥 Parisi, executive director of NSPARC, said 鈥淲e talk about research and how NSPARC鈥檚 research includes the use of data to help policymakers make better decisions.鈥
Jed Pressgrove, one of the four NSPARC team members at the event, said the team strives to make their exhibit fun. 鈥淵ou can see in their eyes that they are excited about the different displays. They like to play the video game and then sign a poster that they were a 鈥楶rogrammer for a Day.鈥欌
Students also put together puzzles at the NSPARC booth to follow the steps in the research process, and they wrote nearly 200 personal notes to Gov. Phil Bryant in the style of a 鈥渞eport.鈥
鈥淥ur employers and volunteers at the event say it鈥檚 invaluable to see the spark in student鈥檚 eyes when they see something they never thought of before,鈥 said Sock, who noted there are 157 companies and 760 volunteers at the expo. 鈥淭he employers look at these young people as potential future employees.
鈥淎ttending the expo can be a life-changing event for students,鈥 she explained. 鈥淢any students come here with no idea of what they want to do in the future and this is their first introduction to different careers.鈥
For more about NSPARC, visit .
草莓视频is Mississippi鈥檚 leading university, available online at .