MARIETTA, OHIO — This year’s Young Engineers and Scientists (YES) Days introduced a brand-new honor: The YES Days People’s Choice Awards, recognizing outstanding STEM presenters as selected directly by the students, teachers, and volunteers who attended the event.
The inaugural YES Days People’s Choice Award winners are: Appalachian Ohio Manufacturers’ Coalition (AOMC), Thermo Fisher Scientific, WSCO Biology Department (Kelsey Lerch and Valerie Webster), and WSCO Cyber Security Program (Jennifer DeMeyer).
The idea for the award emerged from the YES Days Committee’s desire to spotlight presenters who go above and beyond in delivering engaging, hands-on STEM experiences for seventh-grade students from multiple local schools. During the event, attendees cast their votes through a Google Forms survey, sharing which sessions left the strongest impression.
The awards themselves were fabricated and generously donated by AOMC, reflecting the organization’s continued commitment to fostering STEM interest and talent across the region. The YES Days People’s Choice Awards will now be an annual tradition at YES Days.
Lisa Walsh, Director of College Credit Plus (CCP) Partnerships at WSCO, shared her appreciation for this year’s presenters: “Washington State and the YES Days Committee are grateful for the time donated by all of our volunteer presenters to help hundreds of seventh-grade students learn about STEM concepts in an engaging way. The YES Days People’s Choice awards are a way for those students to give their feedback about their favorite experiences during YES Days,” shared Walsh.
