The 13th Annual Patriots Training Center Youth Summit on Technology at Bowie High School had, in addition to more than four hundred middle and high school students, participants from the United States Navy, according to a feature on the Navy website.

The objective of the Summit is to generate interest among the students towards pursuing a career in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Kicking off the event was Rear Admiral Robert Wray, the deputy commander of the Military Sealift Command, who shared his views on technology, saying: “The whole world is about technology – the tables that you’re sitting at, the microphone here, the cameras, the cell phones you have in your hands – technology rules the world… And the people who know and understand technology are the ones that are going to be in charge of life.”

Wray also shared a more general advice on success, enumerating three things that one needs to know in order to become successful in anything: “You have to have a goal, you need to have a plan, and you must work hard.”

Retired Navy Judge Advocate General Officer and Prince George County council member Ingrid Turner also spoke with students at the summit, setting her story as an example that “anything is possible.” Turner shares how she had gone to the Naval Academy at a time when only few women and African-Americans attended the Academy, while her three brothers went to West Point. In contrast, there are more opportunities available for everyone, and there are more minorities who are provided with scholarships. She tells students that the Summit is also about “exposing students to things they can aspire to in the future.”