Road Trip Nation

For example: Being physically active + action sports + science = Kevin Wallis, lead forecaster at Surfline Kevin Wallis took his summer love (surfing), combined it with his interest in science (he got a degree in meteorology! ), and ultimately ended up pursuing his summer interests to the point that they became his livelihood. Here are some more fun examples of super easy summer Roadmap activities to get you through the rest of summer: * Giving back to the community + wanting to pet all the dogs in sight + desperately trying to stay cool = * Being creative + engineering + food = Inventing a new gadget that protects your arms from onslaughts of melting ice cream * Trying something new + travel + kitsch = Taking a mini-road trip to a neighboring town and visiting their biggest tourist attraction * Learning and challenging yourself + taking risks + that hammock that’s been gathering dust in your garage = Buying a book you normally wouldn’t have chosen & reading it in the sun * Being physically active + being on/near the ocean = Trying out stand-up paddleboarding We know those are all silly suggestions, but the point is to show you that you don’t need to overthink this—

You had a gut feeling, you did the research, you wore the right thing that day, you sent those good vibes to the Retrievers. And yet, when it comes to talking about our own true, hard-won successes, a lot of us suddenly get bashful. It’s entirely possible that luck played a part, but time after time, we’ve found that regardless of good or bad luck, success comes as the result of demonstrated commitment and the determination to overcome obstacles. We’ve recognized a few patterns woven throughout our Interview Archive, and we’ve boiled them down to a simple formula we’re willing to share.

Alice Caruthers, executive director of Alemany Farm, the largest urban farm in San Francisco, didn’t start her farm to grow pumpkins. She joined Alemany Farm and started running community outreach programs that invited local youth to volunteer to work on the farm, not only getting them off of the streets after school, but also providing them invaluable lessons about healthy eating and the ecosystem of a small farm. Pretty much everyone in the world loves candy, but if you’re the person who’s checking ingredients on the back of the Reese’s pumpkins, and then attempting to recreate your own for your Halloween party, you might be a good candidate to work in the candy industry. “Jim Halpert-ing” year after year and dressing up as yourself rather than picking a new persona could mean a lot of things: Maybe you feel so completely secure in your current position in the world that you don’t feel like you want/need to construct some sort of dream life!

A Balanced Equation is a four-part documentary series about three young women interested in science, technology, engineering, and math (or STEM) who take a road trip across the country to talk to the women breaking down barriers in STEM and paving the way for what these fields will look like in the future. Hammonds was originally interested in physics and engineering (she earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from Spelman College, a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a master’s degree in physics from MIT, no big deal), but throughout her education, she found herself continually looking around at her classmates and wondering, “Why am I the only woman of color here? When Debbie Sterling first came up with the idea for an engineering-centric toy for young girls, higher-ups in the toy industry told her that it could never work, that young girls liked dolls, and simply wouldn’t be interested in building blocks. That’s why we’ve created two resources to expose young women interested in STEM to more professional role models: our new series A Balanced Equation, and our Women in STEM “