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| Among the #FacesofPhotonics: Student Leadership Workshop participants at SPIE Optics + Photonics |
One of the many perquisites of being a student in the optics and
photonics field is being able to pass along knowledge to those who will follow
your footsteps in the future. Throughout the #FacesofPhotonics campaign, it
became clear that current SPIE students thrive on educating a younger
generation while simultaneously working diligently on their own academic
careers.
In this post, we feature students who have educated others as well
as themselves.
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| Teboho Bell |
“I was visiting my hometown during South African National Week; I
went to two high schools that are there, gave a public lecture about lasers and
optics, and on career paths after high school. Most importantly, I motivated
the scholars before their final exams trials.
In addition, Bell notes, “Our student chapter bought about nine
textbooks to give to those scholars to share since they do not have study
materials. The textbooks we gave as awards for answering questions based on the
public lecture that was given.”
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| Elizabeth Bernhardt and friend |
“It's the little moments that make life the very best,” Bernhardt
said. “Our OSA/SPIE chapter created a laser maze; during the grand unveiling,
there was a little kid who was super-afraid of the lasers. He was so worried he
was going to die! I asked him if he could help me get to the other side to
refill the candy bowl, and we worked together to get through the maze. When he
realized the lasers wouldn't hurt him, he kept getting in line to go through
the maze again. His mom had to drag him home after an hour or two, and he was
crying!
“Another little moment I really liked was when a fifth-grade girl
explained polarization to her clueless classmates. We had the kids make
polariscopes. When the girl offered her explanation as to why the polarizers
behaved the way they did, it was so thorough and so awesome that I took a
video. I keep the video on my photo so I can watch it when science is not going
well.”
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| Guillermo Sanchez |
“I got involved in optics and photonics back in 2010, as a bachelor
student with the student chapter at my university. I was involved as an
officer. That year I assisted at my first optics and photonics event and fell
in love with optics when meeting this awesome community. Our chapter organized
the first ‘Optics 4 Kids’ event, with a few experiments. It was the first
outreach event of its kind at our university!
“When I graduated with my bachelor’s degree, I continued my
studies at my university and started to study optics with a solar illumination
project, the first project in non-imaging optics in our facility.”
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| Kate Clancy |
“At our event, our chapter partnered with the astronomy club to do
long exposure photography of the stars, and also with sparklers while teaching
about different light phenomena. It was a great moment to see students and the
general public coming together and sharing their knowledge and ideas all the
while having a good time playing with lights, cameras, and lasers and enjoying
free snacks. We got some amazing photos from it and lots of good memories!”
For full stories, follow @SPIEphotonics
on Instagram or check out the SPIE Students
Facebook page and look for the #FacesofPhotonics tag.
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