Business Ventures Keynote Draft

[Slide 1] Hello there Hackers! I first want to shout you all out for the amazing projects you’ve been creating and the fact that you’re even at this hackathon. I’ve actually never attended a my hackathon myself, but I’ve always admired the spirit behind them. Collaboration, creation, iteration, using that time-crunch to fuel you’re problem-solving abilities. I want to applaud you all for choosing to spend your weekend innovating. Regardless of the prizes you may or may not win, the fact that you showed up today and yesterday is a much more meaningful win, and one that will stick with you for the rest of your life. If this is your first hackathon or STEM experience, even bigger shoutouts to you for your courage in taking this first leap into the magical world that is STEM. This is day 1 (or day 2, I guess) of the rest of your life as an innovator, and that is absolutely to be applauded.

[Slide 2] Alrighty, let’s get started. Let me begin by first telling you all a little bit about me. My name is Izzy Lapidus, I’m 18 and from NYC, and I am a rising freshman at Barnard College of Columbia University, where I will be double majoring in Computer Science and Women’s Studies.

[actual slide 3] Chapter 1: Aspiring Astrophysicist

[Slide 4] I spent my entire childhood dreaming of becoming an astrophysicist when I grew up. As a curious 8 year old, I became mesmerized by the projected cosmos in the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History (the museum from Night At The Museum movies), and the same museum I was so lucky to conduct research at as in intern in the Astrophysics Department 9 years later. My team spent 10 months writing code to analyze images of brown dwarfs, similar to planets and stars, and even discovered a brown dwarf 66 lightyears away. If someone from the future ran up to little 8 year old me and said that not only would I conduct astrophysics research as a high schooler, but that I would a discover an object in space at 17 years old, I would’ve definitely called them insane. But science and STEM are insane. It’s insane that we’ve developed the technology to take images of objects in space that are 66 whole lightyears away. For reference, that’s the distance from us to the Sun 4,158 times. It’s totally insane that a little space-obsessed girl could grow up to make scientific history before even graduating high school. And it’s totally insane that that little space-obsessed girl is me. But hey, she could be you, too. The opportunities and experiences that exist in STEM are truly endless.

[Slide 5] Growing up, my passions for astrophysics and STEM were infinitely supported and cheered-on by my biggest role model, my mom. Although my mom was not in the world of STEM herself, her father was a biophysicist, so she always loved talking to me about STEM. I wasn’t exposed to many STEM opportunities as a child, specifically STEM opportunities targeting girls, but I always had my mom to hype me up at home. There was never any question of “do I have what it takes to be an astrophysicist,” my mom believed in my abilities wholeheartedly, and that made me believe in them, too. And thank goodness she helped me find my confidence at a young age, because my STEM classes growing up we’re certainly no joke.

If I hadn’t been exposed to STEM and supported by my mom to pursue STEM throughout my middle school days, it’s quite likely that right now I would not be speaking to you all. The STEM classes in my middle school were hard.

[Slide 6] Enter Middle School

[Slide 7] Let’s take a walk down memory lane. 6th grade: everything starts off a-okay. I’m doing well in my Math and Science classes. I’m doing well in school in general. I’m doing so well in school that I actually place first in my class on the high honor roll. Academics wise, 11 year old Izzy was definitely killing the game. I loved all my classes, and was quite happy to see that I had done well enough in 6th grade math to be placed in the Advanced math class for 7th grade. And so… in-walks the dreadful year that is 7th grade. I’m pretty sure we’re all high schoolers here, but if we have any 7th graders in the Zoom room, I am so sorry. It get’s better. I promise.

[Slide 8] Anyways, 7th grade math hits me like a truck. I went from looking forward to math class everyday in 6th grade to dreading the entire hallway that my 7th grade math classroom existed in. From the start of class, my Math teacher and I just did not click. The way he taught simply did not work for me, which happens sometimes, especially in STEM classes. Normally, if your teacher is a good one, they’ll try and be more adaptable to your needs as a student if they see that you’re struggling… but… nope.

[Slide 9] Not Mr. O. When I got back my first Math test of the year and saw in bright red-ink a glistening 64% out of 100, I nearly passed out. Never in my life had I failed a test, let alone a math test. Not to mention that basically everyone in my class seemed to have scored in the 90s. So yeah, I was shocked for a moment, but I quickly made sense of the reality. Advanced math was going to be more challenging for me than my previous math classes had been. Other people we’re going to do better than me. I was going to have to work a lot harder if I wanted to do well in the class.

[Slide 10] And so, I did. I got home from school that day and immediately announced to my parents that I wanted to get a math tutor. Soon, I began meeting with my math tutor, her name was Wendy. Wendy and I met once or twice every single week for entirety of 7th grade.

She taught me how number-lines work. “If it’s a negative number, that means you go to the left, and if it’s a positive number, that means you go the right,” she told me over and over again until I could finally add and subtract my negatives and positives with ease. Wendy helped me build up my confidence in math again, and slowly but surely, I started doing better and better in the class.

[Slide 11] When June rolled around, I was even able to score a 94% on one of my exams, a huge win for me after struggling and putting in the work all year long. You would think that my hard work would not only be noticed, but validated by my math teacher, Mr. O. But once again…nope. Towards the end of the year, Mr. O taps me on the shoulder and asks to speak with me after class. The bell rings and I leave the classroom to meet him outside. When I get there, he’s holding my Math progress report in his hand. I catch a glimpse of it. My overall average had been an 86% in the class, technically making me eligible for the Advanced math program. Then Mr. O proceeds to tell me that based on my overall average and past test scores, compared to other students I had done significantly worse.

[Slide 12] And then, based on this data, he says to me, “I strongly encourage you to drop out of Advanced math.”

[Slide 13] Boom. Heart = crushed. Not only did he not mention a WORD about the hard, dedicated work I had put into doing well in class ALL YEAR LONG, but he also completely invalidated my worth when he compared my academic performance to his other students. I walked away sobbing. I had never felt so defeated in my life.

[Slide 14] If you think that sounds pretty horrible already, just you wait. It’s about to get a whole lot worse.

[Slide 15] Following this terribly-depressing math day came the day we found out if we had placed into advanced science. Let me take you all back. As I mentioned previously, my classmates were really good at Advanced math. They we’re also really good at science. They were so good that nearly every single person placed into Advanced science for 8th grade, except me. We all lined up to get our Advanced science placement letters, and I watched as classmate after classmate left our Homeroom, each with their special acceptance letters in hand. I just so happened to be the last person in line. I walk up to my homeroom teacher, hands outstretched expecting a letter, and she looks back at me with slight disappoint and confusion as she says,

[Slide 16] “Sorry, Isabel, I don’t seem to have a letter for you.” Apparently, I had failed the test to place into Advanced science.

[Slide 17] So, boom. Heart = crushed. AGAIN. First, I have my math teacher telling me that I’m basically not smart enough to take Advanced math, and then I find out that I’m not smart enough to take Advanced science either? I strolled around the halls of my middle school that day rethinking my entire life. I scolded myself for not being smart enough. I laughed at myself for thinking I could grow up to become an astrophysicist. How the heck was I going to become an astrophysicist if I couldn’t even do well in 7th grade math and science?