58 THE QUEENS COURIER • KIDS & EDUCATION • APRIL 25, 2013 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com kids & education Photos Courtesy of Bayside High School These drawings are some of the artwork to be featured in the gallery walk along Bell Boulevard. Bayside HS students’ work to be displayed BY MELISSA CHAN Festival. [email protected] Bagels & Bake, Citibank, J & J Barber Shop, Maggie Moo’s, Il The time to shine has come for some Vesuvio, Turn the Page Again and Bayside High School students. the Bayside Business Association will Six seniors will have their original exhibit the drawings in the gallery artwork hung in stores along Bell walk. Boulevard on April 27, during the The Arts and Crafts Festival takes Bayside Village Business Improvement place from noon to 5 p.m. near the District’s (BID) annual Arts and Crafts Bayside LIRR station. OVERTHROW THE ‘KING’ SJU students don’t want King as grad speaker BY MELISSA CHAN [email protected] Students are in talks with administration after a petition to replace Congressmember Peter King as St. John’s University’s commencement speaker surpassed 1,000 signatures, The Courier has learned. An online protest against the Long Island representative hit headlines last week, when students called for the school to dump King as this year’s key note speaker. “Congressman King has had his say. Now it is our turn to speak,” reads the petition, which was started by senior Jonaki Singh. Outraged students were against “discriminatory and offensive comments” they said King made throughout his congressional tenure on issues like bilingual education and domestic terrorism. “At a school with such a diverse student body, the views that Congressman King represent will be contradictory to our experience and who we are striving to become,” the petition says. Nearly 1,100 former and current students and faculty have signed the petition as of April 22. The number is now enough for administration to listen to their concerns, sources said. St. John’s did not return multiple calls for comment as of press time. King said he was proud to be chosen as St. John’s commencement speaker and sad the school had to be “dragged into this fi ght.” “Students at St. John’s University are protesting my selection as this year’s commencement speaker. That, of course, is their right even though they are misguided and wrong,” he said in a statement. “But the right of free speech and academic freedom is paramount, and I commend St. John’s University.” The Johnnies graduate on May 19. INNOVATIONS INSPIRE HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS When the high school class of 2014 graduates from college in fi ve years, more than 8 million jobs will be available in the fi elds of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). For students today, STEM is their future. Innovations driven by STEM are shaping today’s economy. Though STEM accounts for a majority of job growth in the U.S., the number of students enrolling in relevant degree programs in college to fi ll these positions continues to decline, leaving a gap of skilled professionals. Women, in particular, are underrepresented in STEM. While women account for nearly half of all fi lled jobs nationwide, only a quarter of STEM-related positions are held by women. Even with the known gap, many women are pioneering the industry, showing young girls they too can be successful in STEM. They are leading the charge in bettering the world by developing innovations and technologies such as global, online crowd-sourcing platforms that allow supporters to give funds from mobile devices. Others are advancing alternative energy products that deliver electricity, water and other basic resources in developing countries. To help bridge the gap and ready the next generation of women innovators, many organizations support initiatives to introduce students, specifi cally young girls, to the importance of STEM. A recent study by the Girl Scout Research Institute found that more than 80 percent of high school girls surveyed expressed interest in considering a career in a STEM fi eld, including engineering, information technology and software development. This is a positive outlook, as positions in STEM are becoming available more rapidly than opportunities in any other fi eld. Courtesy BPT
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