As Science Olympiad Executive Director and Senior Vice President of Marketing Communications, I oversee the operations of Science Olympiad and manage sponsor program implementation with Fortune 500 businesses, government agencies, scientific associations and institutions of higher education.
Two of my proudest achievements have been developing the Science Olympiad Urban Schools Initiative and expanding the Elementary Science Olympiad. I was honored to organize six White House Science Fairs with the Obama White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and to act as Science Olympiad liaison to the Japan Science and Technology Agency.
I volunteer on many civic boards and committees including the Science Olympiad Executive Board, the Illinois Governor’s P-20 Council College and Career Readiness Committee, the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute Workforce Development Committee and the NBC Telemundo Chicago Community Action Board. I’m a member of The Executives’ Club of Chicago, have served as Democratic Precinct Committeewoman for York Township in DuPage County for 12 years and am the Illinois State Chair for Million Women Mentors, a national initiative dedicated to expanding opportunities for women and girls in STEM. Senator Tammy Duckworth serves as our Honorary State Chair.
Through these positions, I strive to connect the dots between K-12, higher education and industry, creating workforce development programs, securing grants for underserved communities, and providing more opportunities for students who need help lighting a career pathway. I’ve written about bridging the STEM skills and gender gaps for ArcelorMittal and MENTOR and have spoken about the power of effective mentoring programs at four Million Women Mentors Summits in Washington, DC. Interested? Reach out to jrkopach@soinc.org
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Science Olympiad is a Chicago-area based, national non-profit organization founded in 1984 dedicated to improving the quality of K-12 STEM education, increasing student interest in science, creating a technologically literate workforce and providing recognition for outstanding achievement by both students and teachers. More than 230,000 secondary students on 7,900 teams from all 50 states competed in 450 regional, state and national Science Olympiad tournaments last year.