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  Logo designed by Erie 1 BOCES senior Maya Weinstein as part of a contest hosted by Harkness Digital Media Instructor Jason (Jae) Bieger.
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On June 9, more than 300 students from seven local school districts gathered at Buffalo State University to celebrate innovation, technology and connection. The IMPACT Expo, previously named the Innovation Exhibition, is a one-day conference that serves as the capstone to a year-long class encouraging students to use technology and innovation to tackle real world problems. Through this project-based class students improve life skills such as problem-solving, risk taking, research and public speaking, while also learning innovative technologies to communicate their knowledge.

This year’s IMPACT Expo featured a keynote speech from Zandra Cunningham, a young entrepreneur and owner of Zandra’s Beauties plant-based skincare from right here in Buffalo. To see a young entrepreneur using science to solve a problem they faced when looking for skincare products, students saw that you don’t have to wait to make a difference in the world. Inspired by Zandra’s story, it was evident that the students in attendance were thinking about how they could turn their projects into the area’s next big business.

Inside the main hall, more than 90 poster presentations were displayed with topics like sport science, animal welfare, food insecurity, racism and environmentalism. Inside classrooms, seminars taught by students to students featured interactive demonstrations and panel discussions with topics including “women in STEM,” “theater technology,” and “game design” among others.

Organizer Melanie Kitchen from Erie 1 BOCES says, “the magic of this event is the peer-to-peer connections. Seeing students share their research with one another creates this indescribable energy that this generation is going to combine their passions with technology as a force for good.”

Looking forward to next year, Erie 1 BOCES and the WNYRIC are hoping to bring more schools to the IMPACT Expo through the Consortium for Student Empowerment through Innovation (CSETI). For more information on this program, reach out to Melanie Kitchen at mkitchen@e1b.org.