Today I participated in a college visit for a group of kids from Pennsylvania, whose day also included an admissions overview, tour of campus, and presentations on engineering, liberal arts, and art options here at RIT. Imaging Science was their last stop for a 45 minute demo with the FLIR. Having just done Workforce Innovations a week ago, I was all warmed up and ready to go today. Unfortunately, today was just not destined to be a slam dunk.
First of all, the group was supposed to consist of 50 tenth graders; however, we got an email notice that only 15 showed up. Everything was still to go on as planned, just with a diminished capacity. This didn't really have much of a negative impact on me (in fact 15 students are much easier to handle than 50, although they are not the best ROI effort-wise) other than that presenting the in huge Carlson Auditorium was going to look pretty silly now. The auditorium is exactly what you want for 50 kids, and exactly what you DON'T want for 15. But, no biggie.
I have no idea how the day went for them before getting here, though I can guess that they were pretty tired and worn out by the time I got them. They slowly and reluctantly filed into the auditorium, and were hesitant to sit near the front without some encouragement from who I can only assume was a chaperon. (In fact I couldn't tell who the chaperons or people in charge actually were, which always makes me very uncomfortable. I am happy to give presentations, but I can not fill the role of being the authoritative figure. I do not have the power to control kids when they are misbehaving, which luckily is not usually a problem... [spoiler alert!])
I started out by trying to make some small talk and ask some questions to better understand my audience. Turns out they were from grades 9-12, not just 10th grade. They were from the same school, however. They had ridden in to Rochester on a bus that morning, and were driving back down after my presentation (sounds like a long day). The chaperon-ish guy thought he was really funny by saying they had "walked" when I asked how they got there. Thanks, man.
And with that encouraging start (though I didn't let it get me down!), I went ahead with my presentation. It wasn't long before some girls in the front thought it would be okay to get chatty. The stare down technique didn't work, nor did cleverly hiding the fact that I knew what they were doing within the context of my presentation work. Finally I had to completely stop what I was doing and ask the girls to please stop talking, it's really not cool. The chaperon-ish guy then kind of took note and reminded everyone there to be respectful.
Clearly this was effective, as after a few minutes one of the girls shifted gears to texting on her phone. So, when I needed a volunteer to get in front of the camera, I called up "my texting girl here in the front," to which she replied, "What? Who's texting?", and tried to cleverly slip her phone into her sweatshirt pocket. Seriously? "You, I watched you texting and see you slipping your phone into your pocket right now. Come on, don't try to pull one over on me like that." And she just giggled as if the whole thing were just silly and she wasn't actually guilty of anything. I wasn't angry, but I did want her to feel a little embarrassed about acting rude and childish. I think it worked... Either way, I was able to at least embarrass her (harmlessly) in front of the thermal camera. So, win.
After this the chaperon-ish guy was more vigilant about observing the kids' behavior. He tried to call out another girl for texting but she said she was taking pictures of the thermal camera on her phone. Well.... okay. Some of the kids were interactive and good players, but for the most part I wasn't feeling much interest from them. Still, I will give them the benefit of the doubt and assume their lack of enthusiasm had to do with being tired and it having been a long day. I got through the rest of the presentation cheery as can be, but inside I was struggling. Most of the time my job is an absolute joy, but this time it was more like hard work. I put my heart and soul into every one of these presentations, so it stings a little when I can't get through to a crowd. Am I to blame? Is there something I could have done differently? How much of it is my fault?
The strangest part came at the very end, when it was time for them to leave and I quickly wrapped up. I gave concluding remarks, told them how to get in touch with me, and even announced, "The end!" And they all just sat there... Was I so good that they all wanted to stick around and hear more, or was I so bad that they were all more or less unconscious? Never mind, don't answer that.
Don't get me wrong - I will never give up, and sometimes the toughest audiences are the ones who need this the most, or really appreciate it just without expressing as much. Also, I truly appreciate every opportunity I get to speak with high school students, and I'm still very glad I was invited to participate in this visit. If anything I said today inspires someone, amazes someone, surprises someone, or excites someone about science, then my work was a success. Bring it on.
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