Hi. I’m Becky. I’m a Laboratory Specialist at St. Petersburg College. What does that mean? I prepare the labs for chemistry, biology, and other sciences at both the Seminole and STEM Center at Bay Pines Campuses. It also means that I have a unique perspective within both the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) and Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM) communities at SPC. I see how things work (or break, in some cases) from both the inside and outside. From my view on the inside, I see how professors envision their students’ learning opportunities through the supplies they request in their labs. Looking in on the research at the STEM Center, the adjustments and repairs I need to make to the equipment they use tell me the students’ stories.

I never imagined that the validation that I would get from being a Lab Specialist at SPC would come from the outside. Let me sum up. A professor asked me if I wanted to take over the microplastics demonstration in conjunction with Keep Pinellas Beautiful. I was shocked, flattered, and quite honestly, a little scared. It had been an exceptionally long time since I had spoken in public, but I soldiered on. The first talk was not a disaster. The second was much improved. I continued to do more research and ask more questions. More SPC employees reached out to give me information or ask me to bring my talk to their class or event. After about a year of honing my presentation, I felt comfortable enough to take my talk outside SPC’s walls.

I began to participate in community outreach events like Science Fest at USF and Law Day at Pinellas Park High School to see how the STEM programs offered at SPC interact with the real world. More importantly, I got to see how the world interacts with STEAM. It was so much fun to see people’s reactions to microscopes. Some were cautious, some excited. Ultimately, my validation comes every time the light turns on in a young student’s eyes as they look through a microscope at flowers picked right outside their classroom. Or when I see the recognition, and maybe a little horror, in an adult’s face when they focus on microplastic that came from my kitchen sink. That is what motivates me to pack up my microscopes again and again, schlepping them from place to place, chasing that EUREKA moment that fills me with so much joy.