PTS Hosts Girl Powered - Redefining the Face of STEM and starts new club, SWENext

Palmer Trinity School had the privilege and honor to host one of the worldwide “Girl Powered” events in celebration of the International Day of the Girl. The main purpose of these events is to get more young girls interested in the fun of STEM and the world of robotics. This is an initiative from the Robotics Education and Competition (REC) Foundation and VEX Robotics, who are committed to showing how exciting it is to be involved with STEM, showcasing examples of how women are changing the world, providing tools for success, and enabling comfortable environments where all students’ confidence and abilities can flourish. 

 

"Girl Powered, Redefining the Face of STEM" was held virtually, drawing middle and high school students from various schools in south Florida, such as Carrolton and Lourdes, to hear guest speakers share about their careers.

 

Students from SWENext (pronounced “s-wee-next”), PTS's chapter of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), lead by Ms. Susy Chu, emceed and introduced the various guest speakers which included engineering professionals and college members of SWE.

 

New to PTS this year, SWENext Club provides students with support, inspiration, and fun through STEM. The club allows students to explore the engineering fields through group activities and challenges, engagement with college students and professionals from STEM fields, and participation in STEM competitions.

 

Special thank you to the following members of PTS community for their participation:

 

Alexa Tannebaum graduated from PTS in 2017 and is now a senior at Duke University studying mechanical engineering with a certificate in Innovation & Entrepreneurship. She is the president of Duke’s SWE chapter and is very passionate about supporting women in STEM. She is also a member of Duke’s Engineering Student Government and president of Duke On Tap, Duke’s premier tap dance group. After graduation, she hopes to enter the realm of consumer product development as a product design engineer.

 

Growing up, Victoria Garcia had a knack for being the “handyman” of the family. Being deaf and a daughter of Cuban immigrants motivated her to work hard to prove herself. Today, she uses her problem-solving skills performing analysis as a system engineer. Born and raised in Miami, Garcia excelled in science, math, and computers, earning a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Garcia joined NASA in 2008 after earning a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. Her deafness poses a few challenges in the workplace but never stops her from using her technical expertise to tackle some of NASA’s most difficult challenges. Now, she serves as a lead system engineer for a project that will help advance technology for life support systems for future missions.

 

Rebecca Dahdah graduated from Palmer Trinity in 2008 and is now a Civil/Wastewater Engineer with 6 years of professional experience. Rebecca obtained a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Florida International University (FIU). While at FIU, she held several executive board positions of professional organizations, including the Director of Communication of Society of Women’s Engineers and the President of Engineers Without Borders for three years. EWB was a key highlight and turning point in her development. She worked on funding, designing, and building a drinking water supply project for the Maleku community in Costa Rica. Feeling a desire to learn more about water policy, governance, and contextualize water issues globally, Rebecca continued her education by completing her master’s degree in Integrated Water Resource Management at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Throughout her career Rebecca has been both a design engineer and project manager for several major projects with Federal and State mandates and for Miami Dade County’s Water and Sewer Department (MDWASD). Her work with MDWASD has included expansions to Miami’s 3 wastewater treatments and over 100 sewer pump stations and associated pipelines.

 

Lynne Keller (PTS Parent) was born in Maryland and lived in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. until age 8, when her parents relocated to Miami after her father retired from his position as an attorney with the CIA, and became one of the founding shareholders in Africair, Inc. Lynne went to college at University of Colorado, Boulder, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1988. She returned home to Miami and pursued her pilot’s license, eventually becoming a multi-engine, instrument rated, commercial pilot, before entering the family business. Africair is the Textron Aviation and Bell Helicopter distributor for the majority of the African continent.  Lynne is the President and co-owner with her brothers and another partner who is not actively involved in the company. In 2006, Lynne and her business partners formed Propel Aviation Sales & Services which is an FAA Certified Repair Station on Tamiami Airport. In 2010, they opened Tropicars which is an E-Z-Go and Polaris distributor in the Caribbean and portions of South and Central America and Africa.  She and her husband, John, have three children, Lauren (PTS class of ‘17), Megan and Jake (current PTS students). Outside of work, Lynne is a member of the Board of Trustees at Palmer Trinity School, and Chairs the Building & Grounds Committee.  She was elected to the Orange Bowl Committee earlier this year and sits on the Orange Bowl Youth Football Alliance Committee and the Host Committee.

 

Helida Dodd, an Industrial Engineer and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Engineering from Florida International University and a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Florida. Most of her career was spent in the healthcare system where she worked in various projects throughout Jackson Memorial Hospital and Baptist Hospital ranging from the Operating Rooms, Emergency Room, Trauma Center, Outpatient Clinics and business offices. She also worked in logistics and chain supply management overseeing all the operations of a software company. As a student, she was part of a research project that worked to eliminate the delays of the space shuttle NASA program. She is the Founder and CEO of Marbella Perfumes where she uses her chemistry and engineering background to create perfumes using natural materials.