Janson Elementary "Dream Big" IMAX Screening
Brian Phan, Vice-President and K-12 Outreach chair for ASCE LA YMF, met with the Janson Elementary School from the city of Rosemead on August 31, 2017 for their sponsored “Dream Big” Field Trip. With the help of Monica Morales, Dream Big Committee chair, Over 400 students attended the event and Janson Elementary filled the California Science Center rotunda between the IMAX entrance and Museum entrance. This would be the first time that the students get the opportunity to visit the California Science Center and many of them have never seen a film in full IMAX 3D. The event a huge challenge to host as it was too early in the school year and many schools had their priorities with beginning of the year logistics. In addition, many schools were not able to secure buses for the student due to the such short notice. After multiple e-mails and communications effort between the school's principal and the school’s superintendent, the field trip got approved and the students were overjoyed with the opportunity. Since Janson Elementary visited the California Science Center on a Thursday, they completely had the whole museum to themselves to enjoy. Overall, the event was a huge success and the entire school filled the IMAX Theater with 400 Janson Elementary School students, faculty and chaperones. ASCE LA YMF was glad to bring this opportunity to local schools and looks forward to future K-12 outreach events with Janson Elementary.
The IMAX movie, Dream Big, celebrates engineering and inspires future engineers as well as motivates current engineers by highlighting impressive engineering projects, intimately describing the backgrounds of four engineers, as well as displaying the tenacity and relentlessness of two engineering competition teams. The movie makes engineering magical and its visually stunning images and use of 3D brings out the joy in its viewers. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Los Angeles Young Members Forum (YMF) was awarded with a Dream Big Grant to be used towards promoting the Dream Big IMAX film played in select IMAX theaters across the United States. ASCE LA YMF set a goal to use these funds towards transportation to the California Science Center (CSC) IMAX theater for inner city elementary schools. In partnership with MacGillivray Freeman Films, ASCE LA YMF was able to provide a completely free field trip for Angeles Mesa Elementary School where MacGillivray Freeman Films provided 400 free Dream Big IMAX tickets and ASCE LA YMF funded the buses for the 400 students, faculty and chaperones.