The “STREAM It Up!” Project Launch Meeting, which was prepared by the STEM Educators Association and Manisa Celal Bayar University, with the participation of Manisa Provincial Directorate of National Education and Şanlıurfa Provincial Directorate of National Education as stakeholders and supported by the US Embassy, was held at Holiday Inn Ekspres Hotel with the presence of Manisa Governor Yaşar Karadeniz.
In addition to Governor Yaşar Karadeniz, Provincial Gendarmerie Commander Brigadier General Selçuk Yıldırım, Manisa Celal Bayar University Rector Prof. Dr. Ahmet Ataç, Ministry of National Education General Director of Special Education and Guidance Services Mehmet Nezir Gül, United States Embassy Education Counselor Roger F. Cohen, Provincial Director of National Education Mustafa Dikici, Stream It-Up Project Coordinator Lecturer Mehmet Nuri Öğüt and related parties have participated to the launch meeting.
Manisa Celal Bayar University Lecturer and project coordinator Mehmet Nuri Öğüt, while making the presentation stated that, they have developed this project by imagining the generation that can adapt to the concepts of multiculturalism and multilingualism, which are in scientific developments in our rapidly globalizing world, and that can successfully manage this process and made the statements;
“As part of the project, we will elect one science ambassador from each of our 81 provinces. Application are currently ongoing. In the first stage, we will provide foreign language education to our selected students. We will have an one-week foreign language training online. Foreign language training will be carried out on STEAM and artificial intelligence terminology. In our second stage, we will have theoretical STEAM and artificial intelligence training. This will take about a week. Our third stage will be to bring our students from 81 provinces in our province in a 2 week period under the leadership of Manisa Celal Bayar University. This process will include practical training on STEAM and artificial intelligence. The fifth stage will be the Science Festival that we will organize. In our final stage, an online congress will be held.”
Roger f. Cohen, Education Counselor at the United States of America (USA) said, “My colleagues and I at the US Embassy’s public diplomacy section are very proud of the “STREAM It Up!” project. Supporting science, technology, arts, math and English language education is a top priority of the US Embassy. This project not only enables students across the country to understand each other, but also enables the two big countries, the USA and Turkey, to understand each other.”
Mehmet Nezir Gül, Director General of Special Education and Guidance Services at the Ministry of National Education, emphasized the need to keep up with technology and support this type of work: “We are doing a lot, but we still have a lot of work to do. It reveals that we need to renew ourselves every moment in the flow of life and seek opportunities for new beauties.”
Manisa Celal Bayar University Rector Prof. Dr. Ahmet Ataç said, “This project, which we are launching right now will be supplemented by the development of our children in the fields of science, technology, and artificial intelligence, as well as English, which is the academic language and which we define as the language of communication in the international platform. The best output of our project will be to turn the differences between the cultures of our 81 provinces into wealth and turn this into an advantage, and to be able to come together in line with a common goal, and do something together.” Recording his statements;
“Being able to transfer what we know, to touch people and their hearts, to create awareness is the best service to humanity. Service to the public is service to the right and at this point, I believe that our children deserve this.”
Speaking at the Launch Meeting, Governor Yaşar Karadeniz stated that the world is constantly developing and we need to develop continuously and said, “The world does not stand still. It is constantly developing. Therefore, we should not stand still either, we need to develop continuously. “In his statements, “The locomotive of development is economy and industry. Production relations are also changing over time, the way of production is changing. We have to raise the new generation accordingly so that we can also take part in this race. We have to produce new things. For this, dreams have to come first. I believe that with this team, this project will definitely succeed. Just like other good examples in recent days, this project will be an important milestone in the upbringing of our new generations in our country, and our university and its staff will always experience the honour and pride of this project.”
The launch ended with a collective souvenir photo.