Victor M. Guzman 
SHPE SD is fortunate to be the recipient of one of the Flex Your Power (FYP) grants offered to non-profit organizations to get the word out about FYP during the crucial months of Aug-Oct, San Diego’s hottest months. The two prong proposal entails FYP Loteria(Bingo) parties throughout the San Diego Community to raise awareness of San Diego and our unique situation and mass communicate via Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Email utilizing our Network (MANA, SWE, NSBE, NSHMBA, EYH, La Raza Lawyers).
Our inaugural FYP Loteria Event served as the backdrop in honoring KPBS Local Hero, SHPE SD’s own Mike Cruz. It was attended by 20 of the brightest STEM students at Granger Junior High School in National City, their educators, counselors, and principal, as well as SHPE SD professionals and collegiate students.
The event took place on Thurs, August 16th, 2012 from 4:00-5:30 PM at Granger Junior High School’s library. The afternoon’s agenda embodied SHPE National’s outreach objective in a nutshell. The planning and concept design of educating San Diego’s youth (ages 10-13) in STEM and Flex Your Power commenced several weeks prior to the event as SHPE SD’s corporate sponsor, SDG&E, proposed a concept of teaching the community about conserving energy and lowering consumption through simple practices at their home, school, or workplace. The students engaged in a Loteria game where messages of conserving energy were described in both English and Spanish along with a concept art image. This idea of mixing a very popular game with educational messages was the inspiration of the SHPE familia’s very own Victoria McKellips. To add extra excitement, each round students who won were asked how they planned to lower their consumption and were given prizes for winning. Between rounds, SHPE professional and college members took turns explaining energy conservation and/or describe how their current job is relevant to the conservation movement. This event embodied SHPE National’s objectives as it engaged all four main target audiences: Corporate partners, SHPE professional members, SHPE college student members, and finally…the community.
As if the event wasn’t captivating enough, there was a KPBS camera crew on site capturing all the Loteria action . The crew was on site to document Mike Cruz’s life story, community involvement, and various accomplishments as he was awarded their KPBS local Hero award. The event was a major success as the students not only learned about the importance of energy conservation, but STEM related concepts. We also improved the relationship between the professional chapter and the student chapter, and finally honored one of SHPE SD’s most important individual.
Thanks to the following volunteers for making the event a success!
Professionals:
Luke Burgan
Steven Carrillo
Michael Cruz (of course)
Eliseo Guerrero
Victor M. Guzman
Sandra Wong McKellips
Student Representatives:
Nelson Hernandez
Leonard Lopez
Alex Melgoza
Jose Ramirez
Lea Ricci
Nancy Ronquillo
Hugo Tapia