Fish & Richardson announced today that full scholarships have been awarded to three Atlanta middle school students – Donye Harrison, Eniyah Johnson, and Jordan Toomer – to attend the U.S. Space & Rocket Center Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama this summer. The goal of Fish’s Space Camp Scholarship program – which the firm has run for 18 consecutive years – is to get middle school students excited about the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Fish launched the Space Camp Scholarship program in 1999 and has since sent over 450 students to Space Camp on full scholarships.
Fish attorneys, including Jacqueline Tio who leads the program in Atlanta, select the scholarship winners based on a written application and an in-person interview. Each year, Fish sends 33 students – from economically disadvantaged areas in the 11 cities across the country where the firm has offices – along with teacher chaperones to Space Camp. In Atlanta, the students were selected from the Luther Judson Price Middle School, whose mission is to provide the opportunity for every student to develop to his or her maximum potential. The scholarship winners – who receive full tuition, round-trip airfare, and accommodations – will spend six days at Space Camp experiencing simulated space shuttle missions, participating in programs on space exploration, and learning about mission control.
“It is a privilege to meet these impressive students each year, and to have the opportunity to foster their interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM),” said Thad Kodish, managing principal of Fish’s Atlanta office. “STEM education is what will enable the next generation of innovators to develop new technology that drives our economy. These young people are our future STEM leaders, and we need to do everything we can to engage and excite them.”
After the students return from Space Camp, many of them meet with the attorneys from Fish to “report on their mission” and talk about their experiences as junior astronauts for a week. For the attorneys, it is another opportunity to encourage the students to keep on exploring STEM and to excel in their studies when they return to school in the fall.
Fish & Richardson is a global patent, intellectual property (IP) litigation, and commercial litigation law firm with more than 400 attorneys and technology specialists across the U.S. and Europe. Fish has been named the #1 patent litigation firm in the U.S. for 13 consecutive years and is one of the busiest post-grant firms, representing more petitioners at the PTAB than any other firm. Fish has been winning cases worth billions in controversy – often by making new law – for the most innovative clients and influential industry leaders since 1878. For more information, visit www.fr.com.
