Pictured with Kenedie Schweitzer are (front row) sister Madison and brother Jakob; (middle row) mother, Amber Schweitzer (left) and Nicole Bullock (right), and (back row) papaw Kurt Schweitzer.
Kenedie Schweitzer shows off a check that halped attend the STEM exploration program at Bowling Green State University.
Submitted photos | Amber Schweitzer
Rising sixth grader Kenedie Schweitzer and Cox Elementary School teacher LaShann Latimer were all smiles after Latimer nominated Schweitzer to attend a special STEM program.
XENIA — She’s barely 11, but Kenedie Schweitzer has a pretty good idea of what her future looks like.
“I found what I wanted to be when I’m older,” the rising Warner Middle School sixth grader said. “I want to be a physical therapist.”
It only took Schweitzer about a week to figure that out — a week she recently spent at Bowling Green State University attending the National Youth Leadership Forum: Explore STEM program. Designed to offer a unique learning experience for students who will become the next generation of innovators, engineers, mathematicians, and scientists, the program offered hands-on simulations and workshops that are meant to inspire future STEM learning.
Schweitzer, a top student at Cox Elementary School, was nominated by fifth grade social studies and language arts teacher LaShann Latimer.
“I got (almost) straight As throughout the year,” Schweitzer said. “She just called up a group of kids … and said you guys have been nominated to go to a STEM program.”
Through a gofundme.com effort, and some local donors, Schweitzer raised the more than $3,000 needed to make the trip. She spent six days living like a college student — sleeping in dorms, eating in the dining hall, and learning.
“We did learning activities, we learned about medicine, engineering, robots, we dissected a calf heart,” Schweitzer said. “Lots of fun. We built robots.”
And those activities — especially science — helped Schweitzer plan her career.
“I really liked learning about the medicine part because I was just really interested in the biology stuff,” she said. “It was my mom’s childhood dream to be a physical therapist.”
Schweitzer’s mother, Amber, was a little leery about dropping her 11 year old off in a dorm room 145 miles away. But she wanted Kenedie to have the experience.
“I knew it wasn’t likely, but when I saw the price of it, I wanted her to try,” Amber said. “Not many kids get to do it. She worked extremely hard for it. Not just for that. She’s always been like an exceptional student. She deserved it. I call her my mini-mama because she helps me out so much at home. She cooks, she cleans. She does all this.”
Kenedie soaked in as much campus life as she could.
“The dining hall was amazing,” she said. “It was like an all-you-can-eat buffet thing.”
There was one drawback, though.
“The beds, they were like rock solid,” Kenedie said.
But that hasn’t deterred her from planning another trip.
“She’s already wanting to work for another scholarship,” Amber said. “She’s already got big goals.”
And the ability to accomplish them.
Reach Scott Halasz at 937-502-4507.
