Rossi Elementary School fourth-grader John F. Gallo, III joined students from across the state this summer in a unique academic and career-oriented development experience, the National Youth Leadership Forum (NYLF): Pathways to STEM, which took place at The College of NJ in Ewing, NJ.

NYLF Pathways to STEM is one of the Envision family of programs that enable students to explore their interests and experience learning beyond the classroom. Each day John participated in sessions on Leadership, Engineering, Medicine, Forensic Science, and STEM challenges. At the end of the week, students made their presentations to their parents.

John was nominated by his second-grade teacher, Courtney Gruccio at Petway Elementary School. During this past year at Anthony Rossi Elementary School, John participated in a science/math enrichment program, as well as numerous class projects such as fossil digs, growing a hydroponic classroom garden, and outdoor lessons as facilitated by his third-grade teacher Amber Egorov.

John was on the Principal’s list all four marking periods and aspires to be an engineer one day. Outside of school, John is a member of the Dolphin and Marlin swim teams, has played soccer for the past five years, and enjoys designing and building things. The hands-on experience he received at this STEM leadership forum reinforced his passion to inquire, explore and create through active learning.

“As an alumna of Envision myself, I am excited for John to meet, work, and collaborate with fellow high-aspiring students from other cities and schools,” said Amanda Freitag Thomas, SVP for Envision. “Hands down, my favorite part of attending an Envision program was being with motivated students in an environment designed to help us challenge our assumptions, meet new people, and grow.”