The Anaheim Elementary School District recently celebrated a teacher who has co-authored a children’s book that’s part of a series promoting the STEAM fields of science, technology, engineering, arts and math.
Brittany Acevedo, who is in her second year at Price Elementary School, teamed up with featured scientist Dr. Alina Garcia Taormina to write “Nanotechnology” for the STEAM-Powered Careers collection. The 10-book series showcases science careers through the lens of diverse characters with the goal of boosting literacy and interest in STEAM, particularly in low-income and historically underrepresented communities.
“I am honored to have been selected as one of the Latina authors in this series,” said Acevedo. “I am thrilled to now be able to share this collection with my own students. My hope is that the diverse characters featured in the book series will inspire future careers in science, technology, engineering, arts and math no matter the students’ backgrounds.”
An Anaheim native who attended Jefferson Elementary, Acevedo was recruited for the project with other authors while working on her master’s degree at USC. Her contribution was recently featured on KNBC Los Angeles news.
At a school assembly on Friday, she read excerpts from her book, which relies on a main character named Mia to explain nanotechnology while underscoring the importance of science careers. Third- and fourth- grade students read along — and they got to take home the entire 10-book collection for free.
In addition to using accessible language, Acevedo’s story was credited as culturally relevant for the Anaheim Elementary School District, where the student population is more than 85 percent Latino.
“We are so proud of Ms. Acevedo and for all her contributions to make learning fun,” said AESD Superintendent Dr. Christopher Downing. “Since the collection comes with lesson plans, we are thrilled that we will be able to incorporate it in our curriculum.”
In the coming months, 180,000 books in the STEAM-Powered Careers series are set to be distributed for free to historically underserved communities in the United States, starting in Southern California. Educators and families can access the series in English and Spanish by visiting the Room to Read website.