Philly’s tech and innovation ecosystem got a refresh this summer.
The Science Center welcomed a new director to lead its STEM education program, FirstHand.
Grassroots groups are also rebuilding community. Civic tech leaders launched City Counsel, a reboot of the Open Access Philly meetup.
Plus, Mom Your Business is piloting a Black Innovation Alliance tool that helps entrepreneurs assess their businesses.
Check out all the details and more power moves below.
Science Center taps experiential learning expert to lead STEM programs
Charlene Caposecco joined the Science Center last month as its new FirstHand senior director of STEM education initiatives. She is taking over the decade-old program that invites Philly students to participate in hands-on science and technology activities.
Caposecco started her career in arts education, working for orgs like Build a Bridge where she brought arts programming in homeless shelters in North and West Philly. She taught the subject in Philly’s public school system for a year and then moved to a charter school.
Before joining the Science Center, Caposecco was director of experiential learning at Young Scholars Charter School, where she planned hands-on lessons and real-world experiences.
In that role, she worked with FirstHand’s former director to bring students from her school to the Science Center, she said, making this move a full-circle moment.
In her new position, Caposecco wants students to have more say in their education and more chances to share their ideas, she said. She also wants students to have more chances to go into working labs and meet people in the industry to see that they can do it too.
“This lab has become a safe place for our students,” Caposecco said, “but how do we get them in and out more? And that it’s actually giving them opportunity and having a piece of that economic pie.”
