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Rita Ferrandino Attends White House Community Briefing on Education Issues
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WASHINGTON, DC – July 19, 2011 – Sarasota resident Rita Ferrandino joined roughly 150 Floridians at the White House on Friday, July 15th, as part of the Office of Public Engagement’s Community Leaders Briefing Series. Ferrandino, CEO of Science Companion’s publisher, Chicago Educational Publishing Company, LLC, is involved in a number of education and STEM Education advocacy organizations.
The Briefing Series is a unique opportunity for grassroots leaders to come to Washington to hear directly from White House officials on the issues that are affecting communities and to learn more about the President’s priorities and initiatives from the people that work on them every day. In return, the White House gets to hear directly what is going on in our communities. The goal of the program is to strengthen the dialogue between community activists and their government.
During the briefings, Ferrandino heard from a number of top administration officials, including Deputy Commerce Secretary and Tampa resident Francisco Sanchez and Deputy NASA Administrator Lori Garver. The session included an hour-long Q&A with top White House officials, during which Ferrandino stressed the need for investment in STEM education. Ferrandino also participated in a roundtable discussion with officials from the U.S. Department of Education. President Obama made a unscheduled stop after his press conference on the debt ceiling to address the community leaders.
“Each year, we lose more ground in our global competitiveness because we lag behind in STEM education,” said Ferrandino. “It is vitally important that we support our educators in providing the best STEM education possible, challenging them to help our children build their curiosity and comprehension.”
Rita with DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Shultz
“Most children only get about two hours of science a week in elementary school, despite studies showing that science learning must start early – both because it’s cumulative learning and kids fall behind quickly, and because by middle school, kids have already defined their interests,” continued Ferrandino. “If they don’t get any real exposure to science before that, they rarely find it engaging.”
While in DC, Ferrandino also attended a meeting held by Senator Bill Nelson and Representatives Ted Deutch and Frederica Wilson and Democratic National Committee Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz,. The meeting focused on key education issues, as well as including a discussion about the on-going debt negotiations. If you are interested in engaging and monitoring in activities at the White House, go to www.whitehouse.gov/engage where you can sign up receive e-mails directly.
