WATCHUNG, NJ — On Tuesday, Dec. 6, six juniors from Mount Saint Mary Academy in Watchung garnered valuable information from representatives of various community-based organizations at the Quality of Life Innovations resource fair. They were accompanied by teacher Kathleen Brennan, Department of Mathematics chairperson, and John Maldonado, English teacher and assistant athletic director, at the fair, which was at the United Federation of Teachers in New York City.
This was the first time that students from MSMA attended the fair; however, MSMA has participated in the QLI Competition. In 2020, Meghan Webber, Class of 2021, of Madison, and Aryanna Perez, Class of 2021, of Union, were honored for achieving second-place distinction for their project, “Sustainable Fabric Face Masks.”
“Participating in the QLI Innovations fair was an extremely valuable experience for me. Participating in sessions led by members of New York City agencies allowed me to better understand the intricacies of many complex societal issues, and hearing from former competitors inspired me to brainstorm innovative ways to solve these problems,” said Zoe Schack, of Westfield.
“The chance to hear from students, teachers and judges who had experience in the QLI project was so valuable and makes me even more excited to develop my own project on a topic that I’m passionate about,” said Lillian Del Rossi, of Union.
“This was an invaluable opportunity to secure resources for our future projects,” added Akshaya Karanam, of Woodbridge. “I especially enjoyed the NYU educational researchers who shared how their data archives and analysis changed various state policies for public schooling in New York. This resource fair was an incredible opportunity to meet previous competitors who led community-based initiatives using their QLI projects.”
Zoe Daly, of Piscataway, said that attending the fair “definitely helped me develop ideas for my project, learn about careers and make connections.”
“This fair was extremely informative and I really enjoyed the variety of organizations there,” concluded Victoria Fekete, of Livingston. “It was so interesting to hear about their work and to have the ability to ask them questions about starting our project. My research partner and I had engaging conversations with representatives from a few of these organizations, like the Research Alliance for NYC Schools, and their knowledge and excitement about our topic will help us as we begin to research and develop our project!”
“Inspiring. That’s how I would sum up my experience at the QLI resource fair. There were many interesting and diverse students and ideas, and numerous organizations actively working to improve the quality of life in New York City from many different angles,” added Isabelle Fretz, of Chatham. “I’m eager to apply what I learned at the event to make my own project even more impactful. Being with my peers outside of the classroom was a lot of fun. I am extremely appreciative to Ms. Brennan for giving us this special opportunity!”
Photo Courtesy of Michelle Daino