Adopt a School
Berkeley Lab Kicks Off First Initiative in Year-Long Partnership with McClymonds High School
The Government and Community Relations Office at Berkeley Lab selects a community partner each year to give its annual "Community Partnership" donation, designed to help support the work of community organizations that share Berkeley Lab’s values. The Lab gave the 2022 donation to the Oakland Public Education Fund, to adopt McClymonds High School.
To kick-off this year-long partnership, a wide-range of Lab staff visited McClymonds earlier this month to take part in a STEM career day. Berkeley Lab employees including scientists, engineers, administrators, and information technologists took part in a career panel discussion with McClymonds students. The panelists spoke about their backgrounds, their path to their current role, and a high level overview of what they do at the Lab. They also shared about the challenges they've faced and how they have succeeded.
“We are grateful for the tremendous opportunity to partner with the Oakland Public Education Fund and collaborate with McClymonds High School this year,” said Berkeley Lab Director of K-12 STEM Programs, Faith Dukes, Ph.D. “We're excited to introduce students to various careers in STEM and STEM adjacent fields through the stories of curiosity, motivation, and perseverance from our diverse selection of Laboratory staff. Our goal is to inspire students by helping them to imagine themselves as future innovators and provide opportunities that will help them make their career aspirations a reality.”
“It’s through important partnerships like this one with Berkeley Lab that our schools can provide students with critical real life experiences and inside knowledge of their potential future careers,” said Oakland Unified School District Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell. “This is exactly the kind of perspective that enables students to connect more deeply with their studies, and motivates them to focus more on what they can do after high school, in college, and in the business world. I thank Berkeley Lab for supporting the McClymonds community, and the Oakland Public Education Fund for always supporting our students.”
In addition to holding these career panels, a select group of McClymonds students visited Berkeley Lab on Monday, March 27th to participate in a career and job shadow day. Later in the year, Lab employees will serve as an audience during the students' end of the school year presentations.
