USGIF hosted San Antonio area Girl Scouts, Girls Inc., and Boy Scouts at annual event
Herndon, Virginia, June 7, 2017 — As part of the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation’s (USGIF) GEOINT 2017 Symposium—held June 4-7 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas—K-8 students from the San Antonio area had the opportunity to participate in various activities to learn about geospatial intelligence (GEOINT).
“GEOINT education for K-12 students is very important to the Foundation,” said USGIF Chief Operating Officer Aimee McGranahan. “We were very excited for these groups of San Antonio students to hear from senior leaders in the Intelligence Community and make them aware of GEOINT and the many career possibilities the field offers.”
K-8 Program
During the Symposium, USGIF hosted a K-8 program for students to experience GEOINT firsthand and learn basic intelligence and analysis skills. More than 25 girls from the Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas participated June 5 to earn their STEM merit badges. On June 6, 15 girls from the Eureka! STEM program of Girls Inc. San Antonio also attended.
The K-8 program was a full day agenda that included interactive activities on the National Geographic Giant Traveling Map of North America, a live drone demonstration, technology demos, and presentations from female government and industry leaders.
Speakers included:
- Dawn Eilenberger, Deputy Director of National Intelligence
- Karyn Hayes-Ryan, Component Acquisition Executive, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)
- Dr. Suzette Kimball, Director, Civil Applications Committee
- Letitia A. Long, Former Director, NGA
- Carmen Medina, Founder, MedinAnalytics; Co-founder, RebelsatWork.com
- Patty Mims, Deputy Director, Federal Government, Esri
- Christy Monaco, Director, Corporate Assessment Program Evaluation, NGA
The GEOINT 2017 K-8 outreach was generously funded and sponsored by AECOM, AGI, BAE Systems, DigitalGlobe, and Raytheon.
GEOINT Outreach - Girls Inc. from Trajectory On Location on Vimeo.
GlobalXplorer Workshop
In addition to participation in the K-8 program, students from Girls Inc. attended an exclusive GlobalXplorer Workshop sponsored by DigitalGlobe, GlobalXplorer, and USGIF. GlobalXplorer is a citizen science and archeology platform that enlists volunteers around the world to discover sites unknown to modern archaeologists. The result of Dr. Sarah Parcak’s 2016 TED Prize, GlobalXplorer is a customized crowdsourcing platform produced by DigitalGlobe. Girls Inc. learned how space technology and on-the-ground efforts come together through GlobalXplorer while using the platform.
“GlobalXplorer gives kids an interactive way to learn about how satellite imagery can be used to see a better world,” said Nancy Coleman, DigitalGlobe’s vice president of corporate communications. “We’re advocating for children, especially girls, to be exposed to real-life STEM applications early in their education, in hopes of inspiring them to follow a career path that will lead to the next great scientific discovery.”
Boy Scouts
Approximately a dozen middle school Boy Scouts from the Boy Scouts of America Alamo Area Council participated in a geocaching activity with members of USGIF’s Young Professionals Group (YPG) June 7. YPG members accompanied the scouts on a geocaching activity throughout downtown San Antonio, where they navigated various historic landmarks. After completing the activity, each scout earned a geocaching merit badge.
Learn more about USGIF’s K-12 initiative and see upcoming activities.
About USGIF
USGIF is a nonprofit educational foundation dedicated to promoting the geospatial intelligence tradecraft and developing a stronger GEOINT Community with government, industry, academia, professional organizations, and individuals who develop and apply geospatial intelligence to address national security challenges. USGIF achieves its mission via its strategic pillars: Build the Community | Advance the Tradecraft | Accelerate Innovation.
For more information, please visit www.USGIF.org and follow USGIF on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Contacts:
Kristin Quinn
Editorial Director
United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation
703-350-6753
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