Fish & Richardson Sends 33 Students From Economically Disadvantaged Areas to Space Camp as Part of STEM Scholarship Program

Fish & Richardson has awarded full scholarships to 33 students and their teacher chaperones from across the country 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 20 consecutive years - is to engage middle school students in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Fish launched the Space Camp Scholarship program in 1999 and has since sent over 500 students to Space Camp on full scholarships.

The scholarship winners are selected by Fish attorneys based on written applications and in-person interviews. All of the students are from schools in economically disadvantaged areas in the 11 U.S. cities where Fish has offices: Atlanta; Austin; Boston; Dallas; Houston; Minneapolis/St. Paul; New York; San Diego; Silicon Valley; Washington, D.C.; and Wilmington, Delaware. The scholarship winners - who received full tuition, round-trip airfare, and accommodations - spent six days at Space Camp experiencing simulated space shuttle missions, participating in programs on space exploration, and learning about mission control.

"Encouraging young people, especially those from underrepresented populations, to focus on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is important to our country's future economic success," said Peter Devlin, President and CEO of Fish & Richardson."STEM pervades every part of our lives, and we will continue to do everything we can to inspire more students to consider STEM careers."

After the students return from Space Camp, many of them meet with the attorneys from Fish to share their experiences as junior astronauts and "report on their mission." The attorneys also have the opportunity to encourage the students to keep on exploring STEM and to strive for academic excellence when they return to school in the fall.