I was lucky enough to represent STS EDUCATION at the Bowers Museum on Friday, March 18, at the ACSA Every Student Succeeding Breakfast and Awards. STS has sponsored a Chromebook for each of these award recipients for many years and 2022 was no different.
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The ACSA awards honor students that have overcome extreme adversity in order to achieve academically- some examples included a single teenage mother who’d recently completed her degree, and a young hearing impaired individual that emigrated to the US from Colombia after teaching himself ASL via YouTube to maintain a 3.5 GPA at his school. There were also students who’d overcome severe mental and physical limitations to achieve academically- this was their chance to be recognized, and to have their support teams stand and be recognized also.
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I’ve mentioned before that I used to work as a teacher and I feel privileged to be able to bring that experience to the Marketing department at a company that has students at the center of its Golden Circle– it felt really great to get out from behind my computer and actually meet some of the students- in person, faces uncovered- that this company provides solutions and services for.
The Bowers Musuem is a wonderful venue in Santa Ana, a town filled with wonderful little venues– they host free family festivals all the time, make it a point to attend! It was a breautiful Southern Californa morning and the French Toast and orange juice were flowing.
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I got to be one of the two sponsors that handed the prize recipients their goodie bags and gave them congratulations after they came off the stage, and they were elated.
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The students and their sponsors didn’t know they’d be receiving Chromebooks as prizes- the emcee announced that all the bags had a $100 gift card for Boomers and the crowed oooooohed and then they announced the inclusion of the Chromebooks and the crowd OOOOOOHEEED. It was a spine tingling moment, connecting with students that viscerally. I also got approached during the picture session after the ceremony by a teacher who told me that one of the honorees could barely contain himself, as he was so excited to receive a Chromebook.
It was a wonderful morning and helped me reconnect with the core of our mission at STS- Students!