Fish & Richardson has awarded full scholarships to three Silicon Valley middle school students – Aaron Gonzalez, Alexander Magaña, and Christina Pascacio – 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.
Fish attorneys,including Michael Headley, who leads the program in Silicon Valley and is the office’s Managing Principal, select the scholarship winners based on written applications and in-person interviews. 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 Silicon Valley, the students were selected from Selby Lane School, which strives to empower and challenge all students to achieve educational excellence. 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 Headley. “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.
Fish & Richardson is a global intellectual property firm offering patent prosecution, counseling, and litigation; trademark and copyright prosecution, counseling, and litigation; and commercial litigation services. Established in 1878, and now with more than 400 attorneys and technology specialists in the U.S. and Europe, our success is rooted in our creative and inclusive culture, which values the diversity of people, experiences, and perspectives. Fish is the No. 1 ranked U.S. patent litigation firm, handling nearly three times as many cases as our nearest competitor; a powerhouse patent and trademark prosecution firm; a top-tier trademark and copyright litigation firm; and the most-active firm at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Fish continues to win cases worth billions in controversy – often by making new law – for the world’s most innovative and influential technology leaders. For more information, visit fr.com or follow us at @FishRichardson.