Our Future Leaders!

by Anthony Barton, General Manager at Aeros – a Cultura Company

Ben Silva and I gave a presentation at Northam Elementary School in La Puente, California at a Career Day presentation for the Options for Learning Program.

With more than 100 first through sixth graders listening, Aeros spoke about the importance of both education and experience in one’s quest for a career they will love. The group listened attentively as we talked to them about the importance of the things they are learning now and the things they will learn in their educational journeys. They were fascinated to hear about the numerous jobs both Ben and I had held through our teen-age years and at the different professional jobs both held prior to working at Aeros. It was surprising to find that a discussion on education and experience could hold the attention of such a young group.

When trying to describe our current position in the software industry, we asked “What is software?” Not surprising, a group this age, unanimously answered “games” and “iPhones”. We agreed, but further explained how our use of technology helps businesses. Helping businesses didn’t excite them until they learned that Aeros customers are in the egg and poultry industries. “Cool! You get to work with chickens” … there the fun began.

We talked a little bit more and went on to play some games. They were extremely competitive in the chicken trivia contest. At one point my ears were ringing due to the shear volume of children’s laugher! For our final contest we emulated The Volaris Academy’s Initiative Competition, a topic we had just explained. They were split into groups and given a time limit to come up with a technological idea that we could take back to our office that would help our egg and poultry customers run their business.

The group was of mixed ages, so the grasp of technology varied. However, I would like to share some of the ideas from our future leaders here in California:

• Use robotics to create something the chicken can sit on that will count how many eggs they lay.
• Create a machine to run after the chickens to collect the eggs they lay.
• Create software to make the chicken lay more eggs.
• Make an X-Ray to see if the egg is good or bad.
• Use software to see if it is a good chicken or a bad chicken.
• Create an application to predict how many eggs the chicken will lay in a year. (This was from one of the older children who was impressed that we already have software to do this!)

This was a highly competitive group and it was hard to choose a winning team. Therefore everyone got a candy bar for sharing their good ideas. Of course, I was unable to show the concluding slides of our presentation since I lost their attention once the candy bars were distributed!

Career Day was an enjoyable experience, not only because of the fun and laughter during the contests, but the group’s eagerness to interact during discussions about education and experience.

These are our future leaders and today’s educators are doing a great job in helping these kids along their journey. I think I have a pool of future Aeros employees growing up right here in the Inland Empire!

My thanks go out to the Options for Learning Program for extending this invitation to Aeros.

 

Anthony Barton // General Manager
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