Tech savvy Karen Abrams is a ‘Special Person’

Mar 04, 2018 Features / Columnists, News, Special Person

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“We can’t divorce the Maths and Science and technology from the creativity, because that is important if we are going to be coming up with ideas. As I often say, coming up with ideas will be the real currency of the future, and that is why I spend so much time talking about how important it is to empower children and make them confident so that they can be creative.”

 

By Sharmain Grainger

Without the clear understanding and the full utilisation of some subject areas, the development of a country could essentially be in limbo or left to the whims and fancies of outsiders with the wherewithal.

It might have been just such a thought that was nestled in the back of Karen Abrams’ mind when the idea of promoting the STEM in Guyana took form. STEM is an acronym for the subject areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

Although she’d migrated to the United States many years before and had taken up residence in Georgia, Karen’s heart was always with Guyana, the land of her birth. Moreover, when she witnessed Jamaican students taking part and excelling in a science event, she understandably asked herself ‘What about Guyana? Why isn’t Guyana involved in things like these?’

Karen certainly saw the need for Guyana to embrace STEM since she’d long recognised that “Guyana is changing, it is going to be a place that is impacted by technology, and you have to change the culture. You have to change everything for people to participate.”

In fact, she disclosed during a recent interview that even if local youths opt to work with companies coming from abroad to help develop Guyana, they will be required to understand and be comfortable in areas such as Mathematics and Science in order to solve problems and embrace true creativity.

“We can’t divorce the Maths and Science and technology from the creativity, because that is important if we are going to be coming up with ideas. As I often say, coming up with ideas will be the real currency of the future, and that is why I spend so much time talking about how important it is to empower children and make them confident so that they can be creative,” Karen posited.

STEMGUYANA IS BORN

With the support of her husband, former national basketball star, Leon Christian, Karen started to conceptualise how exactly she would be able to introduce her STEM-driven vision for Guyanese youths. It would so happen that as her vision was taking shape in her mind, Karen would have a chance meeting with First Lady, Ms Sandra Granger, who was visiting Georgia at the time. Karen took the opportunity to engage the First Lady and solicited her buy-in to host a robotics camp in Guyana.

The First Lady was indeed enthused and followed up with Karen until the fruition of not only one but four robotics camps, which catered to some 400 students with even a remote inclination for things STEM-driven. It was an astounding success and indeed paved the way for the establishment of STEMGuyana in August of 2016.

Co-Founded by Karen and three of her four children, Ima, Asha and Caleb, STEMGuyana is a registered non-profit organisation that embraces a mandate to unlock the world-class technology potential in Guyanese youths. Currently, its director is Mr. Colin Sawh.

The organisation since its introduction has taken the Guyanese society by storm and has even made its mark internationally. It was just last year that a novice STEMGuyana team not only participated, but placed 10th in a Global Robotics Competition that was held in Washington D.C.

Last year too, STEMGuyana, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, was able to launch a National Grade Six Assessment Maths App, which is designed to help strengthen pupils’ ability to excel at the annual assessment. It is Karen’s fervent belief that, “opportunity should not depend on how much money your parents have for extra lessons…I want when I go into a school in Lusignan or at Vreed-en-Hoop…all schools should have access to the same level of preparation.”

Among its other ventures, STEMGuyana has also introduced a competitive league concept to Guyana, which is intended to promote healthy competition among local youths in Mathematics, Robotics and Scratch Coding.

“We want everybody to understand the value of the programme, it has to be a programme that you understand that there is a tremendous benefit,” said Karen, as she shared her vision of a Guyana where all students are afforded the same fundamental education.

“I want to make sure that students who go to any high school in Guyana will be able to receive the same technology exposure; the same preparation for a technology future whether you are in a private school or a top high school…if we are able to achieve that, we will be successful,” said Karen.

She is convinced that once youths are engaged in a fun way, they will be excited to learn. It was just such an approach that caused her to develop a passion for the STEM subject areas. In fact she revealed that “Much of what I am today is because of the exposure and the opportunities I was given…”

EARLY DAYS

Born on March 21, 1968, to Donald and Millicent Abrams, Karen, the last of five children, was raised in North Ruimveldt, Georgetown. She completed her secondary education at St. Rose’s High School.  Interesting, however, was that Karen hadn’t a passion for science at a young age.

“I never really fit into St. Rose’s in a very academic way.  I was completely bored…there were too many rules and so I tuned out,” Karen recalled. She remembered being placed in the Arts stream and was doing the lowest level maths, since her interest was not remotely peaked by any STEM subject area.

But from as far back as she could remember, Karen was an avid reader and indeed had a creative mind. But there wasn’t really a desire to truly explore. Although she grew up with a thirst for knowledge, this she easily satisfied through her extensive readings, which also helped her to become a good writer.

She, however, fondly remembered that she was always eager to be active like her older brother Shaun. “He really took me under his wings. I was always out running and jumping…he influenced me in a profound way in terms of how I saw myself in the world. I didn’t see myself different from the guys in any way; I felt that I was empowered to do whatever I wanted,” Karen divulged. She moreover developed into an ardent sports personality.

Her sport inclination saw her excelling in the basketball arena. “I played with the guys and I got really, really good at basketball; I really got to love the game,” Karen reminisced.  Her talent certainly did not depart when she left Guyana in 1984 for the United States. She recalled that after playing one successful year of high school basketball, she became eligible for at least eight basketball scholarships to attend college. But even while residing overseas, Karen remembers returning on a number of occasions to represent Guyana at basketball championships.

NEW WORLD

But she wasn’t only succeeding at basketball. According to Karen, it wasn’t until she left for the United States that she gained an understanding and appreciation for the STEM subject areas. It was a new world to Karen.

“I started to pay attention in class and I was at the top of the class in Maths and at the top of the class in Science…I started to find those subject areas to be amazing…I got deeper into Maths as I got into college and it opened a whole new world to me,” said Karen.

She later graduated from Howard University with a degree in Business Administration and then went on to complete a Master’s degree in Marketing at California State University. She would go on to spend almost 11 successful years at a major internet company, during which she exercised her marketing skills well and even moved on to better understanding the technological side of things.

“I’ve learned that it is very important to surround myself with smart people with integrity, and very often it is these people who help to keep me motivated and energized,” said Karen. She recalled, “I was exposed to engineers and developers, and just about everybody you could think of in the technology space, and I was also good at my role and got a lot of promotions.

I ended up being Director of Operations…I had a chance to see every single piece of the business, from vendor management to capacity planning, and even managing a half a billion dollar budget for phone lines…”

Essentially, Karen was able to gain access to high-level technical people who helped her to evolve into the human being she is today. In fact, she reflected, “A lot of what I know is through watching people who have been successful…my training was in marketing, but my work exposure was in technology, so I learnt everything hands on.”

GLOBAL COMPETITION

Even as she envisions taking STEMGuyana to new and innovative heights, Karen is optimistic that the efforts of the organisation will touch the lives of youths across Guyana who are interested in technology.

She posited that, “if in 20 years we have 10 young people who start global technology companies, we would have made an impact. We want our young people become good enough to solve problems. Once you have companies like that in Guyana you wouldn’t have a problem with jobs or being able to participate in the technology future…”

It is Karen’s belief that Guyana is poised to take full advantage of technological advancement. She however cautioned, “If we want to prepare our kids to compete globally, we don’t only have to teach them to be smart academically, but to be confident and willing to ask questions and debate points, and even disagree with their teachers sometimes.”

“Those confident kids are the ones who don’t mind taking risks, failing and getting up again. Those are the creators who will come up with solutions, because they don’t mind failing…If you make it so that failure is a terrible thing and you can’t recover from it and it is associated with shame, then what you will have is a whole bunch of people who wouldn’t even try. If you are not willing to try, then you cannot get into a place to compete with ideas and to come up with solutions to problems… it is all connected,” Karen asserted.

But the inclusion of technology in everyday existence is still in its fledgling stage in Guyana. As such, Karen has concluded that “I believe we’re doing something that is so new that it will take time for people to be convinced. I think we have to work with the people who believe, to get the necessary work done, or else our children will suffer the consequences.”

The new generation of technology, she explained, will require young people who are creative and bold and knowledgeable in Maths and Science, thereby positioning them to be able to truly compete globally.

“They will be growing up in a more prosperous Guyana and if we don’t properly prepare them, more and more people will come into the country and take all of these economic opportunities and our kids will just be doing the service jobs. Therefore, we have to raise young people who can compete globally,” Karen reiterated.

In concluding, she seized the opportunity to reach out to all youths who may not have heard but may be interested in an upcoming national multidisciplinary technology programme.

In 11 days (March 15), a much-anticipated national league will be launched, related to robot building and Scratch Programming.

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