High school students from across Salt Lake City attended a first-of-its-kind Human Innovation Day on Thursday, November 10, 2022. Students were introduced to Utah’s fast-growing life science industry and learn about opportunities for careers, internships, and more.
Students started the day at Recursion Pharmaceuticals where they were addressed by James Yapias, Director of Salt Lake Education Foundation, Martin Bates, Interim Superintendent of the Salt Lake City School District, and Mayor Erin Mendenhall. Students received a behind-the-scenes tour of cutting-edge technology companies bioMérieux and Recursion, and rounded out the day by attending a student-specific track at the BioHive Summit, hosted at the Salt Palace.
The event was hosted by the Salt Lake City Department of Economic Development, the Salt Lake City Education Foundation, and the Salt Lake City School District in partnership with Utah STEM Ecosystem, BioHive, Recursion, and bioMérieux.
“I did not realize that any of these companies existed, or that they had opportunities that are so available,” said Collin Stanley, a senior at Salt Lake Center for Science Education in Rose Park.
Salt Lake Tribune, November 11, 2022
To Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, there is an historic disconnect between the city’s biotech industry and too many of its residents.
“In Salt Lake City, we have a very real divide in access to the good things — the growth and the great jobs that are happening here, and I’m done with it. We should be totally intolerant of these divides continuing.”
She views biotech growth as “an opportunity to pivot intergenerational cycles of poverty to intergenerational cycles of thriving.”