STEAM Spark - Think STEAM Careers, Podcast with Dr. Olufade
STEAM Spark: Think STEAM Careers Podcast with Dr. Olufade. Welcome to STEAM Sparks: The Think STEAM Career Podcast, hosted by Dr. Ayo Olufade. Our mission is to raise awareness about the importance of pursuing college and careers in STEAM fields and the positive impact they can have on BIPOC communities.
Dr. Ayo's journey, fueled by his passion for STEAM education, lies at the heart of this podcast. His experiences and meaningful conversations with guests from STEM and STEAM backgrounds inspire us to highlight the significance of STEM education and careers as sources of empowerment. We aim to better position the next generation for success.
By sharing personal stories and experiences, we hope to inspire and encourage our audience to consider STEAM careers. We are committed to promoting diversity and representation of BIPOC communities in the STEM field, breaking stereotypes, and fostering an inclusive environment where everyone's unique perspective is valued.
Join us as we explore the endless possibilities and opportunities in STEAM fields. With your participation and support, let's work together to shape a brighter future for all.
#ThinkSTEAMCareers #BeInspired #BeAnInspiration
It is time to innovate!
Dr. Ayo Olufade, Host STEAM Sparks: Think STEAM Careers Podcast with Dr. Olufade
STEAM Spark - Think STEAM Careers, Podcast with Dr. Olufade
From Family Milestones to the Frontier of Space: Fostering a Universal Legacy Through Innovation and Education
When a milestone as monumental as becoming a grandparent occurs, it's not just a family that transforms—it can be the catalyst for groundbreaking innovation. That's precisely the journey our esteemed guest, a former IT wizard turned grandparent and innovator, shares with us. Grandpa Stokes discusses his path from his evolution as a Granpa to his vision and ambitious Trio project, alongside the House of Flying Dragons and the Rose Cedar Project, geared towards enriching communities and crafting a legacy. It's a tale that spans earthly bounds, from fostering economic growth to seeding dreams of an Eden Project on Mars, underpinning a global effort to nurture a better tomorrow.
Peering into the cosmos, the episode soars into the boundless potential of the space industry, which is projected to burgeon into a multi-trillion-dollar economic powerhouse. Our guests don't just dream of stars and spaceships; he envision a universe where access to space is democratized, education is intertwined with exploration, and diversity is not an afterthought but a foundation. We delve into how major agencies and emerging private players can galvanize inclusivity, ensuring a vibrant voice-mosaic propelling humanity into a bold new era of spacefaring civilization.
Finally, we cast our eyes back to Earth, where the seeds of this cosmic odyssey are sown in our youth's minds through STEAM education. Our guests' passion for educational initiatives like Grandpapa Stokes and Flying Dragons' after-school program radiates throughout the conversation, underscoring the importance of fostering creativity and community engagement from the classroom to the stars. As we sign off, we're reminded that the convergence of art, education, and space isn't just a dream—it's an unfolding reality we're invited to shape: one student, one idea, one mission at a time.
I think it based on my conversation with you, you mentioned that Grand Cues must be an inspiration behind the creation and development of Trio, correct? I think you have a backstory to that, correct, Am I wrong?
Speaker 2:No, you're right. Yes, and as I mentioned, 19 years ago I witnessed the birth of my grandson, and so that was a transformative process and transcended time and space, and that was led and inspired. What can grandpa do to be, to give back, to be an active participant in my grandchildren's lives? But then the beginning of the thought was well, it's not grandchildren, what about all grandkids? And as I traveled, like I have thousands of grandkids now, grandpa, all over the place, from real kids from six to 65.
Speaker 2:So they all call me Grandpa, but that has been the beauty and blessing of this journey to be of service, not be of service, to be of service, to give back and think about a legacy. What can I leave for my grandchildren? Hopefully I leave a legacy of curiosity, of imagination that follow your dreams and that our dreams can become reality if we believe them. And so believing in ourselves, but also realizing that we have a responsibility in how we develop our gifts and talents ourselves. And but also being realizing that we have a responsibility, yeah, how we develop our gifts and talents and that we can, that that we can discover the full expression of our abilities by using them to help others. Yeah, that's been.
Speaker 2:That, for me, has been the most amazing thing. You can do things and your gifts and you go and look at I'm only going to enrich myself with these things and that's what I was initially doing. I was just enjoying all the success, financial independence of a career in the IT field, but I hadn't done anything to give back. It was when the impulse to be of service and to give back that I really started to tap in to what my talents really were, what I really could do in this field, that I wasn't just limited to just selling software applications and making big money, but that I could be a developer, an innovator, and that I could help other ones as well. And so that was massive.
Speaker 2:And so how do we help others to discover that kind of mindset shift can help promote massive growth, exponential growth in own development, personally and professionally, using our gifts and abilities to give back to, and because it's a cycle that, as we're giving and helping others, we're learning and we're enriching ourselves and developing as we're helping others. It's a perpetual engine and, if used correctly, it can be one for economic growth as well, and so that's also part of the roles of education's vision is how do we, you know, help play communities in their economic developments in the area of revitalization? So one of one of one of the one of the projects in the house of flying dragon dragons is the rose cedar project, community economic development, area revitalization and the House of Flying Dragons being a physical hub of a center of innovation and lab, but also one that is not just something that people come to, but this money and stuff and beautiful surroundings, all manicured, but just outside the gates you got garbage and stuff and people.
Speaker 2:Just it's like outside the Taj Mahal, right outside the hall, you have the street vendors, the beggars, you have all this stuff. We want to see the Rose of Education and the House of Flying Dragons being, like I said, a garden, but that one that spreads and one that helps to enrich the environment, and the Eden 3 Mars project. But then there's also the Eden 1 and Eden 2. So basically three things. So Eden 1 is here on Terra Firth, so Eden 1 is the terrestrial expression of the road of education and what we've been doing in building this international platform and how we've been growing as an organization. Eden 2 will be virtual that will be our virtual presence and online, and because what we envision is that not only will all these countries that have visited and these organizations that we've partnered with, they'll be part of our online ecosystem. They'll all be playing the same game.
Speaker 2:The languages all be feeding into the development of these games. So they become stakeholders, they become part of our proud development initiative that we're not looking just to be some of the folks, that these individuals and these organizations will become stakeholders and part owners of what we develop together in their countries, and they become distributors and co-developers, but then we'll all share a similar ecosystem, all tied together through these games, and these games then become a funnel for the research we'll be doing for the acronymic large language model and for the research for the type of games that we'll be using to play in space, and then also for the creation of the Mars Colony, which is phase three, and so that's the kind of large phases that we're working through and kind of finally starting to come together. It's taken me 13 years to wrap my head around this vision, because, imagine, initially in 2010, this whole thing, this vision fully formed Wow, it was already formed. Eden Three, mars told me, okay, the date, and I'm like okay, what am I supposed to do with this? How am I supposed to?
Speaker 1:get there from here.
Speaker 2:What do I do about space tourism? What do I do about education and games and all this stuff? But one of the things I believe in is that I believe that I can learn. It's okay. All right, I have 50 years.
Speaker 1:So I give myself some time to learn.
Speaker 2:I give myself a lot of time to learn and travel, and so that's what I've been doing. Excellent, that's traveling. Excellent, that's excellent.
Speaker 1:Excellent, that's traveling. Excellent, that's our today, excellent. I just want to wish you a congratulation for your grandchildren, or grandson, who has been part of this great product, part of the inspiration of creating something so phenomenal. I wonder about you, about the Eden 2. How will it look like, especially with your collaboration with other countries?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So what we're envisioning, then, is the first step is developing the network and connecting them in a meaningful way, online. So actually, the first step was and we've already started because the Roosevelt Foundation was born online. So actually, the first step was and we've already started because the Roosevelt Foundation was born online as a LinkedIn open group in September of 2010. We were incorporated. Trey was incorporated in November of 2010.
Speaker 1:So it was already born online and it was through all of my presence that I figured out where I was when I was going to tanzania, who I was going to see, or india what organizations I was going to meet up with and so I used in that as that group.
Speaker 2:Then it's an open group. You guys can check it out online and so I think I have a link and I provided you with a link to all my social media links. So loads of education, my social media links, so Loads of Education, is online again as a group, and that really is where it all began, and so we'll grow from there to the website, to the communities, whether it be Slack or WhatsApp, but ultimately, yeah, a virtual reality presence. So through the games, because the games will be online, there'll be the videos for the Dragonfly and for the fitness games and virtual reality games. So we envision a whole ecosystem, the whole yeah, so it'll be.
Speaker 2:it'll be physical, virtual and extraterrestrial. Okay, excellent.
Speaker 1:I want to connect this to space industry and future projection. You have a really grand plan, a grand vision, and I think that it comes. Interestingly, it's probably going to coincide with the effort that NASA is making to put boots on moon and possibly Mars. Elon Musk is doing the same, and if that's the case, people are going to be leaving on moon and possibly mass. Elon Musk is doing the same, and if that's the case, people are going to be living on moon. People are going to be living on mass, and definitely they will have children, and those children need to be educated and all those good stuff. Can you share your thoughts about the space industry and its potential, why this industry is crucial for the future and why it is vital for our community to also be part of this innovation?
Speaker 1:Because, obviously you're doing a remarkable job which excites me so much.
Speaker 2:Please. But that's a great question, and so I don't think it's so much about as a space industry, more as a space economy. It's the space economy and so it's projected to be four to a $10 trillion industry in the 2040s. What Can you say that again About $10 trillion in the 2040s? See the four trillion to $10 trillion by the 2040s.
Speaker 1:So that's not too far, that's an industry.
Speaker 2:So if our communities want to be a part of it, we have to start now. And the way I look at it is especially as it was really strategic in the way I wanted to approach it. I wanted to approach it from the fact that I'm not trying to build anything. We want to be the payload. We want to be so, whether they're living or working. So there'll be different space stations. We'll certainly have workers and colonists on the moon before Mars, and as far as how many colonists we'll have on Mars, it's not projected We'll have more than 50 colonists on Mars anytime before the next turn of the century, because how expensive it is.
Speaker 2:But the moon, certainly, and space hotels and space touring, that's just ripe and that will just continue to grow. And so we see that as an opportunity, then, to be that you can be involved in that industry and, from the space tourism standpoint, that as games, as payloads, as part of the education system, as part of the education system, as part of the deliverables. Ultimately, we want to. The Dragons Fly Fire Flying game is part of our vision for an exotic, custom concept flight vehicle. So basically, I want to build a flying surfboard to fly on the moon or to fly past the international space station or moon Elon Musk on the space dragon, so that?
Speaker 2:but we imagine that. What kind of recreation. What can we? Harness the kinetic energy of a human body in motion to power, create a kinetic energy propulsion system, powerful turbines that or or that we could use in low or zero gravity to move from place to place or even on as a conveyance, as we're discovering new worlds, imagine being on Mars and being on your own kind of hoverboard and powered by your own movements, and we're not leaving a footprint that way you take samples, and so that's how we're viewing that, as the games will be researched for developing that type of technology, and it feels wide open that the base, the frontier, is open for business.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so I think our communities and part of what Trails initially focuses on how we empower communities and individuals, but also communities to also become stakeholders and through these organizations that we're connected with around the world that they can become these innovation hubs and labs and places where, like I said, we will continue this garden to continue to grow in spring until it reaches the moon or Mars.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for that. I I want to still stay on space industry and future projections. I know NASA because I've interviewed one of the associate directors from NASA a while ago. Nasa is really making a lot of effort to try to include a diverse population in its workforce and I'm encouraged by that and I think NASA is a trendsetter as it pertains to trying to, in my view, involve more diverse population within its workforce, literally. So my question to you is, as it pertains to other stakeholders in this space Elon Musk is a giant in this space. Bezos is also a giant in this space. Asa Richardson is a giant in this space space. As I reach a certain giant in this space, so how can these companies that are really great stakeholders in space industry, how can they encourage more diversity in the space industry, make it more accessible to underrepresented community? Any thoughts on that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think the main takeaway from that is understanding who's writing the checks, because Elon Musk and the missiles and the lot yeah, they're giants. Who's cutting the checks, uncle Sam? Because the reality is that if you want to be a space power or be a superpower, you have to be a space power, okay, and so with countries like so china, india, now japan, they've launched their jackson and the countries in africa, they're all stepping up, yeah, and so that will. I think it's a great opportunity for education, for bringing more diverse, because these countries, as they see about launching their space ambitions, but realizing also that if they want to be part of the space economy and they're the real superpower, that space is an important part of their development and education.
Speaker 2:Digital transformation the AU has a big interest in that, though they still don't have as many countries that have adopted it, but still the opportunity for education in the US and we all have to. If we look at that as an opportunity and understanding that for space entrepreneurs and ones looking to get into business, that aligning that with Uncle Sam's what their initiatives are and that realizing that's where the money, they're the ones cutting the checks, that's where the money is coming from and we can align ourselves, to make sure we can be a part of that and any effort that helps align the communities, that brings in diverse stakeholders. So that's how also the roles of education is positioned itself, so that we can partner with organizations like yours, like A Steen Gillis, like organizations in India or in Africa. In Kenya I went to there's a space academy in the Kibera slums, the largest urban slum in Africa. I visited a space academy there and so even in Ethiopia they have a space academy.
Speaker 2:It's really growing, and so I think that the future is bright. The future is bright, there's a lot to look forward to and, yeah, there's not a lot of diversity now, but it's coming. A wave is coming.
Speaker 1:We all have an opportunity to be a part of that and those of education.
Speaker 2:it looks to be a connector and provide a platform and a garden-like experience for creativity, curiosity and imagination to just flourish.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned the CHIPS earlier, the CHIPS and the Science Act that was signed into legislation. I think that's one great way in which we actually, as a diverse population, can be part of this through the universities, especially the HBC, go into STEAM field and seeing the future and the possibility that STEAM can offer. So us sitting back and just waiting also for all these opportunities to come to us, I think we cannot really take it for granted any longer. We have to make efforts through all opportunities like the university, like the HBCU schools, to ramp up our efforts of encouraging recruiting more of diverse minorities to pursue a career in this field and also education degrees in those fields. Talking about legacy and preparation, preparing future generation I love what you said. You're continuously bringing it back to your grandchildren and I think that is what we, the older generation, need to continue to consider, especially as we look into the future, right? So you mentioned your grandchildren and the desire to build a legacy. How does your work with Cheer Inc contribute to this legacy?
Speaker 2:I get the vision to be to establish a moon or Mars colony, which would be an expression of what the Rose of Education vision is, of this inclusive vision that we're really just one world and that how do we represent all of us in that project? That Eden project is really meant to be an expression of that, that we can, that the collective wisdom of humanity can solve all the problems that that we're facing, and so it's really meant to, and so that is really hopefully the legacy that I, that I would need for my grandchildren, is really just this journey and that, and really just the knowledge that we just really are one. And even so and Eden is an acronym, Eden is an acronym for each day, every name, and so the Roads of Education, all these projects and all these missions, is that each day and every name may be blessed.
Speaker 1:That is the vision.
Speaker 2:That is what Roads to Vegetation is for. So the Eden Project we want to have a community that the legacy would be, a community where each day we see the blessing. We see the blessing not only in ourselves and each day that we wake up, but in each other, and that we are one. And the language game is meant to be an expression of that sharing our names. What are our real selves? Who are inside? Who are letters of our name In an application? We share our stories with one another from different parts of the world and find that we really are the same from different parts of the world, and find that we really are the same.
Speaker 2:We laugh at the same things, and this is part of that kind of ecosystem with the games that will connect people, not only in a physical fun, but also in a real, meaningful way with our stories that can resonate with people, that we will find that we have connections and similar stories, people that we wouldn't even have thought, and that's what we, that's what the hope that we can connect people that would not have initially connected.
Speaker 2:And that we've learned a little bit and we each try to do to be better and do better each day Excellent and yeah, and dream big, play hard, give back and have fun. That's really what it's about.
Speaker 1:I like that. So what steps can parents, educators take to help children identify their strengths and prepare for a career in STEAM, Like you know what you're trying to do to inspire, to instill in your own grandchildren.
Speaker 2:There's been a growing movement. When I started traveling, one of the things I connected with and even volunteered in Germany, there's organizations the Democratic School Philosophy that they've launched, where they don't have traditional classes or classrooms, an organization like Classrooms Without Walls.
Speaker 2:They're really looking to engage those students who may have been viewed or identified as troubled students or problem learners, and it just turns out that they weren't being given the resources or being they weren't given the dignity of the individuals that they learn. Taking the time to the education system doesn't take time to learn how these young kids learn, or to at least try to figure it out, and so there's democratic schools and something like the Montessori concept in the schools as well. So that's growing and we're seeing it more and more, and I would say we just need just more of it, more of an adoption, more of an openness from educators, but ultimately their hands are constrained by all the policies and all the regulations. For teachers, one of the things I learned is that their focus is how do I get this student from sixth grade to seventh grade out of it? And introducing something into their process. That just that they had something else new, that they learned that, that just how does it? Will it really have results? That they're looking for? It can be. It's really difficult, and so that was also one of the challenges and that I've, that I see whether it's not the teacher's fault, it's just the system that they're in, and so how do we change the system.
Speaker 2:Some teachers have success. I don't know. I've had teachers who were just brilliant, who were able to turn dry information into just such engaging classes. But not all teachers are trained or have that love and they're underpaid, overworked.
Speaker 2:So it's such a challenge and one of the things I saw as I traveled around how could I make the delivery of these offerings, of these games, as hopefully an aid to supporting the work that they're already doing in class? Make it as easy as possible to digest, and so, just like with the Real Names game, they're doing stuff on the chalkboard already. Just make it as easy as possible to digest, and so, just like with the real names game, they're doing stuff on the chalkboard already. Just make it apart. They don't have to learn anything else. Take a dictionary out, and so it became an easy process. And then, even in areas of schools that didn't even have a playground or just had dirt and rocks or just concrete, we're showing how you can stuff like a coconut or tree branches or rocks and that would turn into a dragonfly exercise, and that there's a way to deliver education in a way that can be accessible without it being possible.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just listening to you. Go ahead, finish your talk please.
Speaker 2:Go ahead please. It just takes a little imagination. That's it, and that's one of the taglines of the Rose of Education. One of our hashtags is just imagine. Okay, just imagine. People say just do it or this and that, but say just imagine.
Speaker 1:That is really awesome. Listening to you takes me back to a conversation that I was having this week with one of my colleagues. He said one of the problems with education is, he said, there's too much or too many technologies. Right, we didn't have all this technology back then. And then another teacher said we need to decentralize education. That's also one of the issues with education nowadays there's too many red tapes, there's too many policies, there's so many stuff playing. It makes it, it handicaps the hands of the teachers, educators and administrators. Anyway, I just wanted to share that thought with you. What do you say?
Speaker 2:That created a thought in my mind is that really I think what we're trying to get? What I really look at is that we are the technology, it comes from us, it's an expression of us and we think it's separate. And so the way I looked at it I said wait a minute, I have all these things that I envision and embody, that I embody those, and understanding my processes is just an articulation of that framework or wireframe of this application and that, instead of viewing it as something separate, but that we are biotechnological machines, organic machines, when even in the way I view myself and even my physical exercise I think about, I train myself like a machine. I train myself to operate like a machine. When I was working construction building, I got to the point where I could build a 200-foot fence from the ground up, digging the post hole, planting the post, doing all that in three days. Wow, because I was like a machine. I had this process. I just had this process where I would say that's how I operate in most efficiency, that's how I found a way, how I basically trained my body, or learned how my body to learn, train my body to work really efficiently, effectively, and that and the dragon flying game grew out of that as well.
Speaker 2:But I think if we look at ourselves, not separate from technology, but that it is really an expression of humanity and our own processes, and if we understand our processes, our unique processes, we can then maybe find how we can improve current processes, because we may have a more efficient way of doing things. If we can express those in a manner that could become an application or product or solution, then, yeah, and that's really the kind of the goal and how we do that is I think it's open. It become an application or product or solution, then, yeah, and that's really the kind of the goal and how we do that is, I think it's open because we all learn differently, not everybody. Some people can read they, some people they learn and apply without a bunch of distractions, and but others, like myself, I need the raucous and I need to be down in the creek rolling around, hollering and laughing. Yeah, excellent.
Speaker 1:So I take it that you disagree with the thought that technology is a problem. I think what I'm hearing from you is that technology can be very helpful, especially we are also technological in our construct. Correct, please.
Speaker 2:You mentioned that because so, even so, one of my other jobs examples of the jobs is I'm a training coordinator for a nonprofit cybersecurity training, education and certification organization, and so one of our models, then, is people, processes and technologies. Technology with a small t, because when it comes to cybersecurity, building a secure and mature cyber information security management system and preventing threats, it's not about so much the technology, it's about the people, it's about the people, it's about the processes, and so the you know we focus on technology. Technology is an enabler, and so it's really the people and the processes in place that really help determine how that technology is going to be applied and if it's not, if it's not applied directly in processing, like there's a problem with the processes or the people, then that's where the weakest links are.
Speaker 2:And so shoring up and that's where an industry that needs a lot of diversity of thought and experience. And it aligns so that Roads of Education has partnered with this organization that I work for, as that I work for them TRAEO, um contracted with um, the Holistic Information Security Practitioner Institute, as the training to provide training coordinator services. And so um using A because it aligns with our further goal of education and providing opportunities. Because, just as we talk about the STEM landscape and opportunities for space and cybersecurity, what about cybersecurity in space, like with Elon Musk and Starlink, or with the space station or the satellites and everything that needed to support space operations, from launch to land and everything in between Protection of those systems from bad actors or from unintended access or illegal all these things how do you protect that information?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm glad you said we're into challenges and opportunity in STEM and the space industry. If you can highlight the importance of STEM education and the space industry and what challenges do you see for individual pursuing career in this space? And then what other opportunities do you see in this space, especially for students that are interested? After listening to this program, you've inspired them to go on to pursue career in space industry. If you can speak on that, yeah, I like that. Remember you mentioned cybersecurity too. I love it, please. Remember you mentioned cybersecurity too. I love it Please.
Speaker 2:Yes, please. So there's a lot of opportunity and a lot of areas where people pursue different interests in STEAM or STEM, and so, whether it be in gaming or think about whatever person's interest, it goes back not only to what's available in the community to for these young people who may be interested, but also there's a responsibility on the individual who might be interested. That, okay, how much research, how interested are you in it? Really Are you? Are you become part of online organizations or at school or or are you thinking be not too cool to be a part of that? There's a lot of challenges going up culturally, just as individuals may want to pursue that, but I think it comes down to what are you passionate about and then, following that through.
Speaker 2:Dreams don't build themselves. Your houses don't build themselves. For dreams to become reality, it takes work and how we view that work that we need to do to get where we want to. We can either view it as a joy. My kind of philosophy that I've taken up is that we can either view the world as a prison or as our playground, and so one is limiting, the other is limitless, as well as the possibility. So we look at okay, at what we're pursuing as an opportunity to learn and to play and to grow, and how much fun it actually can be once we start talking to people who are doing the same things and where, at one point, my thought of sitting down with a bunch of teachers and helping to develop networking events.
Speaker 2:I would never, if part of my education was becoming part of a steering committee for an education group who put networking events for educators people who were in early childhood education or double education and I found myself not being an educator.
Speaker 2:I became a member of their steering committee. But that's because I was like, I opened myself up to that. I said, okay, I need to learn this. If this is something I want to pursue, then I'm going to have to take it seriously. And I'm going to have to take it seriously and I'm going to have to take steps to learn. And so I volunteered and had a meeting with the members and had a chance, even though I wasn't an educator but I showed I would be able to bring a unique perspective into it from a company standpoint, from an entrepreneurial standpoint and because the Rose of Education, just because of its name, we meant to focus in on that as a core value of the organization, but I think for individuals we have to challenge ourselves in that journey and how we'll grow and just how much fun it actually turns out to be that if we take that on ourselves and we start to learn to believe in ourselves and grow confidence and have experience we never would have imagined.
Speaker 2:And so there's a challenge, but there's a great reward at the end of that as well. Not at the end of it, but along the way. Continue to expect yourselves.
Speaker 1:Excellent. So how can we, as educators, parents, better prepare our young people? We know opportunities are coming. We know the space industry is growing you did mention, you did put a number to it about4 to $10 trillion. So how can we better prepare our young or inspire our young people within the BIPOC community to seize the opportunity to promote STEM education and diversity? Let me say that how can we better prepare our young people to seize opportunity in this growing industry?
Speaker 2:I think, firstly, we have to support their interests as parents, whether they're in the African American community or otherwise, even in India or in countries like India or China. And one of the things I lived in India for two years and become an engineer or a doctor or a lawyer or something like that, but or an engineer. But there's so many engineering schools but many of those with BSCs and MSCs are working in Colson and they're not really getting the hands-on training and application. But that's growing now too because of the opportunities growing now too because of the success that India, that Israel, has in the organization. I think, as far as parents, we have to support the interest shown and I think that's the first step Whether the opportunity prepares them for this opportunity. It has to be seen, they have to see it, and so we have to create more visibility. And right now, like I say, you only see Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos in space, all this stuff and there's not a visibility In Africa. There's growing visibility of organizations like Space in Africa and South Africa Space Industry and South Africa space industry, but it's still flow, being something that's in front of our youth, and so that's where collaborations, that roles of education Trail Seeds has a way to collaborate with organizations who are working in the STEAM fields, like yourself, who are working with schools putting together programs.
Speaker 2:Say, let's put together a program Grandpapa Santa, also Flying Dragons, we're going to bring our space art to the school.
Speaker 2:We have to create an after-school program, and so it becomes an opportunity then to bring it to the forum, to make it accessible and to introduce it, and I found it easier to do that outside the country without having to go through a lot of the red tape that we have to do in the US.
Speaker 2:I mean, I performed background checks where I was in Africa, and so forth, but a lot of it, though, is the need is so great that they welcome any opportunity, and especially that they don't receive visitors or people donating. They're not getting a lot of donation dollars and so forth, and so I see that there's a great opportunity. But here in the States, then I see the opportunity for TREO is then partnering with well, the same as we do in other countries, partnering with organizations like yourself and others that have access to schools, that we can then collaborate, put together a program and apply for funding, and there's a lot of money for that, those kind of things. So I'm interested in talking or maybe collaborating with you and your organization to do such a thing as well.
Speaker 1:So we can chat more about that Excellent.
