Fall 2018 Issue
Important Dates: |
The STEM Newsletter is written and edited by students. Editor is Matthew Kleibrink and lead editor is Shane Schnaidt.
Recent Happenings
Texan Basketball
Julien Smith As the 2018-2019 Texan Basketball season kicks off, they start with very high standards. In the past two seasons, they have reached the state tournament twice finishing 3rd in the 2017-2018 season and 2nd in the 2017-2018 season. The goal is to reach the tournament again this year. We interviewed Coach Edwards, head coach of the NHS Texans, to see how he felt going into the season. He mentioned that, “I feel a lot of pressure and so do my players but" with "all the hard work and dedication we put in practice, I feel very confident in this years season.” The high standards have not changed for the Texans one bit. He plans on leading them to the state tournament once again this year but hopefully coming out. New varsity basketball player and STEM sophomore, Kabeya Tshibangu, discussed his role on the court and off. He states, “Time management plays a very big part because I have to maintain a working schedule to where I have time to work on my craft, as well as my school, works the STEM Academy provides.” Kabeya also mentioned the pressure of performing at a high level, "I know if I fail, I will be letting my team down as a whole.” Though the pressure and expectations are high this year, everyone sees them winning the whole thing. Senior Role Model: Kayla Rasmussen
Abby Hogan Kayla Rasmussen is a STEM senior this year and on top of that, she is a leader of our Northwest Sidekicks too. Her dedication to both STEM and Sidekicks makes her a Senior role model. Speaking to one of her teachers, Ms. DeLong, we found that it’s not only the students that recognize her amazing habits and skill as a student but her teachers as well. “She has good time management in the classroom and she’s a team player.” When asked about her habits and how she acts in class Ms. DeLong said,” Really good student, talkative and will put input in conversations and give good feedback.” All of these qualities are essential to her success in the STEM Academy. When we asked a fellow student, Kaylee Simpson, it wasn’t surprising to see that not only did teachers recognize her hard work and dedication but students too, "she’s very hardworking and she seems very goal driven." All her work and dedication pays off as the sidekicks awarded Kayla with a star for making straight A’s the first 6 weeks of school. Another student, Brett Zubritski, spots this too and even more so since he was apart of a group project with her.” She’s always very hard working and would pick up slack from other team members.” Going on to say,” she always gets work done on time and it’s always very high quality.” In addition to her full course load, Sidekicks and an non-school dance studio, Kayla is also in a Practicum or Internship this year. She is spending multiple afternoons a week interning with Wade Trim, a civil engineering firm. She is able to take her skills and put them to work! Hard work, dedication, and a positive attitude are what STEM is about. Kayla Rasmussen is an amazing example of all of that on top of being an extraordinary Major for the sidekicks. These are the reasons why we have chosen Kayla Rasmussen as our senior role model. Trip to the OLC
Joseph Kiraly Multiple times a year, the STEM Academy utilizes a school day to travel to the Outdoor Learning Center. At the OLC, students are separated into mixed grade level groups. This practice breaks the inner cliques of STEM and ideas of grade superiority to create connections and friendships between differing students. The OLC allows students to spend time outside where the students are able to explore the wild, build teamwork skills, and have fun. Through first-hand experience, STEM students are also taught about environmental challenges present in engineering and scientific career fields in today’s age. veryone in STEM is given the opportunity to play some games, make friends, and relieve any stress that students have acquired. One game that is played is the Human Knot, where a ring of students would put their hands in the middle of the circle. Everyone grabs another hand at random and then attempts to unknot the circle without letting go. This year, in addition to games, students were able to work together to create a short Public Service Announcement addressing environmental concerns. A few of the topics addressed hydration, sun protection, clean water, and pollution due to plastic waste. We always enjoy getting away from campus to spend time with our STEM friends and met new ones. The Dream Bigger Project
Nick Bianco The dream bigger project was a project designed to help students think about the future in a fun creative way, the basic idea of the project was to answer one simple question "How can I be successful in an ever-changing world?" Students utilized their summer reading books "Dream Differently" by Vince Bertram and Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance" by Angela Duckworth. Through these books, students were able to learn more about setting goals and moving into their next steps. As students, we got creative freedom over this project and were allowed to change things to fit our future careers. The project was focused towards our careers and lifestyles that we would like to achieve and how we would achieve them, this was helpful to many students that understood why we were doing the project, however, there are some students that thought of this project as just another assignment. What was impressive was the number of students that put a lot of passion for this project and I would like to focus more on those students. To try and capture the essence of passion that many of the students put into this project I interviewed Justin Barnes. Justin was the winner of the mic drop competition and had a very well formatted presentation as well as a very passionate approach to this project. This project also helped people like Justin get a sense of where they're headed and Justin even said "I guess the best thing about this project is the insight it gave me into my own future". Justin recognizes the importance of this project and how with all of the day today homework and assignments our students don't have time to reflect on our own lives and by incorporating that and do a project it allowed us to do exactly that. Personally I love this project but unfortunately, I found that there were some students that just thought of it as another assignment such as the other person I interviewed, I asked him what his favorite part about the assignment was, for me, it was the presentation, but for him, he simply answered ¨ the end¨. As somebody who took this project very seriously and put a lot of my energy into it this is kind of upset me because I know how hard Ms. Williamson worked on this project to get it ready for us, but I just wonder if there's a way to make those students passionate about their future like the students that went above and beyond in this presentation and blew it out of the water. To NASA or Bust!
Sunny Curtis & Marla Erica Gamboa Special Guest Reporters Did you know that the STEM Academy at Northwest High School offers Aerospace Engineering courses? Students are able to learn the fundamentals of atmospheric flight and space flight. Aerospace Engineering students explore aerodynamics, physics of flight, propulsion systems, remotely operated robots and rockets. The STEM Academy offers two courses for students who are interested in aerospace: PLTW Aerospace 1 and Aerospace 2. Within Aerospace I, there are many skills students acquire that are able to help them in Aerospace 2. In the beginning, they learn how to build a rocket that is meant to reach One Mile with a 1 pound payload. This project gives them an insight to what is to come in Aero 2, since the rocket they plan to build is supposed to be able to break the sound barrier (Mach I) and stay under the curtain of 13000 ft. This year, students in Aerospace 2 have been learning about the flight of transonic rockets. They had to research the different factors that affect the flight and how they relate to each other. Each student had to create a Microsoft Excel Flight Profile that calculated the ascent and descent of a transonic rocket. In order to make a successful Flight Profile, students researched various physics equations and implemented them into the calculator. Along with calculating the velocity, acceleration, and altitude, some students calculated the drag force and varying mass to make their Flight Profile more accurate. Once completed, each student gave a short overview presentation of their Flight Profile in hope of getting chosen for the NASA Trip. The top 3 students chosen to go on the NASA Trip were Connor McGreger, Sunny Curtis, and Marla Erica Gamboa. These students were selected based off of their knowledge of aerospace, how accurate their Flight Profile was, and their presentation skills. The main purpose of going to NASA was to present a Flight Profile for feedback from Systems Go and a NASA associate. These students spent two weeks combining their Flight Profiles and creating the presentation. The first day of the trip, the students had the opportunity to tour Space Center Houston and practice their presentation. The second day, the students presented their Flight Profile and were given an exclusive tour of Johnson Space Center by the NASA associate. These students received detailed information about what could make this year’s rocket meet the goals set by the students in the class. In the future, once there's been a definitive decision on their rocket design, parts will be ordered, and the rocket will be built and launched. The students’ main goal is to have it reach past Mach I and not over 13,000 ft where it is set to be launched at Jacksboro, Texas on Saturday April 27th, 2018. They invite you to learn more about their progress by following them on Twitter @STEMAcademyNHS and @STEMrockets. Mic...Dropped
Austin Ramey We finished a big project with a competition! After the Dream Bigger project, each student presented their dreams to a panel of mentors/judges. They were able to share their passions and dreams. After the primary presentation, the students were then hand selected by judges to represent each classroom in the "Mic Drop" Competition. These selected students were believed to be standouts among each class. Those selected presented during iNvest Tuesday and Thursday for a final time with a large student audience. This gave them the opportunity to go back over anything they might have forgotten or left out in the original presentation. It also allowed these individuals to present to a larger and more open crowd the day of their “Mic Drop” presentations, as they presented to STEM classmates. This allowed other teachers that didn’t get to see their original presentations or let teachers that did see the original presentations to see a more refined version of the presentations. One such example is Ms. Williamson that got to see the original and this is what they had to say about the new presentations: “Every single contestant rose to the challenge and brought their A-Game.” But what really matters is what the presenters themselves had to say on the topic of their new presentations vs their old presentations. I was able to interview two of the juniors that presented for the “Mic Drop” presentations and they had some really good responses. Matthew Kleibrink, a junior that presented Tuesday and made some large improvements for the final round. When asked how he felt about his own presentation, he said that it was “unique and would have been better if I hadn’t been cut off by the bell” and when asked if there was one thing that he would have changed, he responded with “Go first honestly. Call dibs, as he went last and ran out of time for his stellar performance. Overall, the mic drop presentations went great and Ms. Williamson had some comments for each group. To the sophomores: “Good job. Keep working because as you are working through your presentations skills your passion will shine through.” And to the juniors: “Know your role. Just understand that you are upperclassmen and that you are a role model to your underclassmen in STEM.” Internship Program Expands
The NISD CTE program has expanded the practicum classes to more areas. A practicum is a course that students can enroll in senior year that provides them internship experience. Students travel to their internship workplace several times a week during the school day. This opportunity is a great chance for students to see what the workplace will be like, gain skills and connect with a mentor. This year, the STEM Academy has five students taking advantage of this opportunity. Steven Besa spends three days a week working with Huckabee Architects in downtown Fort Worth. Steven stated "I've really gained the experience needed to motivate me on my journey to becoming a future architect." Not only was Steven working closely with an architect, but he even took on a project working on Revit drawings for a new stadium in Prosper ISD. Kayla Rasmussen is working with Wade Trim, a civil engineering firm in the area. She is really enjoying learning more about civil engineering from the experts. Chase Stuhldreher, is currently a apprentice electrician at a local company each morning. Chase spent all summer working full time and is continuing to attend daily to learn more about electricity and gain more skills. He is getting on the job training each and every day! Chase states "I am always gaining new knowledge that will directly help me in my career" and continues with "this career is perfect because I will always have a job and the challenges" will keep me engaged. Chris Muniz Vargas is currently interning with Joeris General Contractors. He is able to follow the progress of a building from plans to inception. Currently, Joeris is working on the new NISD elementary school (Lance Elementary) and Chris a part of that project. Chris is working with engineers, architects and construction to see how all pieces work together to finish a building. "It is really cool to be able to see all of the people work together" says Chris. Caulter Etheredge is interning at PBK, an architecture and engineering firm. Caulter states that "being able to work alongside professionals is an awesome experience. I'm building my resume and gaining skills." NISD is proud to partner with these and so many more internship locations. Thanks to all of our partners! The Cancer Project
Ryan Torres Down in room 717, Freshmen Biology students have a new project that challenges them to “create” a new pharmaceutical drug that would allow them to cure different forms of cancer. In this project, students are given two and a half weeks to research treatment methods for a specific type of cancer and then present how that treatment works and helps cure the disease. This allows students to get a more in-depth look into the cell cycle. According to Mr. Fisher, the new biology teacher, the project helps them become “immersed in the real world application of the cell cycle.” Students are also tasked with creating a visual that demonstrates the students' understanding of the cell cycle in a way that a general audience can understand. This helps students “convey the most important information in such a far-reaching biology unit”. After all of this hard work, students then displayed their work in a gallery walk, which is a much more relaxed and easy environment compared to their average five-minute presentation in front of a panel of judges. This is an amazing first step for our freshmen as they learn more about the STEM work ethic and attitude. Special thanks to Dr. Turner from the NISD Wellness center and Mark Burleson from UNT for joining us and providing students with feedback |
Teacher Spotlight: Mr. Brown
Brett Zubritski Some STEM teachers are held in high regard unlike any other teacher at the school. They command an amount of respect no teacher can boast, as well as utilize their classroom in a way that no other can match. Our Feature Teacher, Mr. Brown certainly fits these requirements. Mr. Brown, a teacher of PLTW courses Principles of Engineering, AP Computer Science Principles, and Principles of Cybersecurity is a teacher who makes an impact. Mr. Brown is a teacher that every STEM student will have at least once throughout their experience in the academy. He teaches primarily the sophomore class but his optional engineering courses are available to juniors and seniors. Mr. Brown has taught STEM classes for 8 years and has been teaching for 15 years overall. Mr. Brown teaches through Problem Based Learning (PBL), and seamlessly integrates them into the learning process. A good example can be found in Principles of Engineering (POE), where students use VEX robotics kits to demonstrate engineering concepts, which helps a student visualize the hard physics and math problems that students tackle in the class. Justin Barnes stated that “in my opinion Mr. Brown’s classes are of top quality and are the best in STEM”. Early on in the year, sophomores may not have adjusted to Mr. Brown’s unique teaching style, we asked Mr. Brown how he dealt with this lack of motivation, and he said “I try to keep on top of students and make sure they don't fall behind, and I make sure to keep my classes related to the real world to keep them relevant”. If you ask any STEM Junior or Senior however, you will see quickly that Mr. Brown has become somewhat of a legend among STEM upperclassmen. Matthew Kleibrink states “I think he is a very humble, and respectable person, as well as a highly competent teacher.” Because of Mr. Brown’s legendary classes, students often find there are no classes they’d rather have than one taught by Mr. Brown. In addition to his skills in the classroom, Mr. Brown took a turn on stage, being invited to be the guest conductor at the Winter Orchestra concert. What an honor! As one can probably ascertain from the glowing feedback upperclassmen give about Mr. Brown and his classes, he is certainly a feature on the Northwest High School campus and a figurehead in the STEM halls. STEM Projects: An Overview
Matthew Kleibrink As many surely know, the STEM Academy is widely known for its use of Problem Based Learning, or PBL for short. Problem Based Learning offers a different approach to the traditional classroom, providing learning through hands-on experiences. This year, our freshmen, sophomores, and juniors have been hard at work as they move forward with the year. In Algebra 1, the freshmen just finished up the Linear Logo project. In this project, they are tasked to design a logo for a company only using straight line segments, as well as come up with a creative way to market it. They must solve the driving question, “Can your company create a logo using only line segments?”. In the time the students have been working, Mr. Hladky feels good about how the projects are turning out. “They are looking pretty good”, he says, and that he feels good about how the presentations went. The sophomores and juniors completed their “Dream Bigger” projects. Both classes were tasked to research two careers; a career that they had planned to pursue, as well as a career that they had not considered before. They had to research and compile data of both career fields, as well as interview professionals in those fields. Students then created a detailed report organizing all of these details and related the project back to the driving question, “How can I be successful in an ever-changing world?”. Many of the students who undertook the project had a variety of feelings about the project. Sakina Zaki, who studied being an architect and a graphic designer, found the project very insightful. “I liked how it taught us how much we have to work on. It gives us an eye-opener to what we need to do in the future”. John Bach, who also studied architecture as well as astronomy, said that “I learned how expensive the real world is”. She and many others learned about the work it takes to pursue their dream careers, and how it takes grit and determination to achieve these dreams. Grit in STEM
Logan Dattola Over the summer of 2018, the STEM Juniors of Northwest High School were assigned to read a book, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth. The book is about what it takes to reach goals. When a person is seen on TV for accomplishing a difficult task like an ultra marathon, the first thing that comes to mind is, “wow, that person is talented!”, sure talent has a play in it, but it wasn't their talent that got them there, it was their grit. They spend many hours a day running, training, working, etc. All this work to achieve their goal, that is grit. First of all, what is grit? Grit is what a “strong-willed” person would have. It’s the ability to find a task and do it, to do it all the way through without fail. Now, these tasks could be small, or broader. A smaller task would not take as much grit to complete but does require a small bit of it. For example, reading a book, of course, you can’t just read a book in the matter of a few seconds. It takes grit to read the book from front to back. Now a larger task could be like doing your dream job. It’s not going to come to you, you must go to it. On top of that, your dream job is not going to take 3 days to reach such as reading a book. It can take years and maintaining the goal of following your dream job, is grit. That is grit, the power of passion, wanting something, and the power of perseverance, doing something until it is finished or reached. The STEM Juniors were assigned Grit because STEM students might notice how effectively they spend their time, how they can spend it differently, put more effort into areas were their weaknesses lie. When I asked Ben Grafton, a junior in the STEM Academy, “How has the book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance affected how you look at things?”, he responded with “It allowed me to perfect various skills that I use frequently.” This shows that this is more than just another summer reading book; it’s a book very carefully selected to help some of the STEM students re-look at how they do any goal. To add on, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance was also read by all the STEM teachers including the head of Northwest STEM, Ms. Helmick. When I interviewed the Sophomore and Junior STEM English teacher Ms.Williamson, she had lots to say about the book. She personally liked the book and loved the way it was written. She loved the use of examples such as the spelling bee and how it was the first book she felt explained how she felt when she was a kid with a lot of grit. When she had us read it, she could not explain grit in her own words, the only two words she could think to describe it in is passion and perseverance. These two words just fit so perfectly together when describing grit that no other words could replace them. Overall, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance was a book worth reading and definitely worth taking to heart. Everyone I interviewed said they would recommend this book for sure, and said that it would be the best read towards the end of Middle School or early High School. Though these would be the best times to read it, reading it as an adult can still be beneficial as it can help remind one of what they really want to do in life and how to keep going to get there, even if that means to move a few unnecessary goals out of the way to make room for the goals that would further progress your dream. Lift-Off
Brett Zubritski STEM Juniors have been learning valuable lessons in Aerospace with their rocket project, where students have been designing, creating, and then launching small rockets in the band practice field. We later made this cross-curricular by incorporating elements from English into the rocket’s design and analysis. To start with, students began to design their rockets, using the “RockSim” software to analyze how well the rockets would perform. This was critical as this project was a stepping stone to the big rockets the students will be launching later in the year. Nick Bianco said, “It showed me we have to be very precise”. A lot of students learned this lesson the hard way with multiple malfunctions and poor launches abound. However, some of the rockets worked, and they worked spectacularly on launch day! To make this project cross-curricular, students teamed up in their English classes, to do a mosaic analysis on a book, and incorporate their book’s theme into a decorative wrap for the rocket. Students also painted rocks to use as targets for the rockets, based on where they believed it would land, however, most of these predictions were pretty far off, seeing as the rockets arced much farther than most juniors had predicted. One of the more unique parts of the rockets, minding the wraps, was the fins, which each team designed and added to their rocket either in a set of 3 or 4, “The fins are pretty neat” said Ryan Torres, who’s rocket had rather large fins. Overall, the students are glad to have been better prepared for their kit rockets and big rocket by doing this smaller scale project. They look forward to what the spring semester has in store for them. Wind Tunnel Woes
Ryan Torres Many STEM students this year have joined the exciting class, Aerospace Engineering. For the few who are unaware of what this class is Mrs. Mitias the Instructor for the class describes it as “Figuring out how stuff flies and how you can make it better.” Aerospace gives students an opportunity to focus on a passion of theirs and explore a new type of engineering. One student says "Aerospace is a way for me to be able to enjoy my passion of making airplanes.” This fall, the students in the class are worked on their airfoil project which gives them the opportunity to learn about how different wing shapes affect lift and drag. An airfoil is the cross-sectional shape of a wing and then moved through a fluid (like air) creates an aerodynamic force. In the project, students were tasked to use Foilsim which is a NASA airfoil simulator that allows students to design and edit their airfoil design. Students were then tasked to create the simulation into a tangible object using foam and a hot wire cutter and test their design for lift and drag in a wind tunnel. Many students have been having a lot of fun with the project with, Brett Zubritzki saying “It’s our first experience relating aeronautics to the real world” which just goes to show how learning can also be fun in the STEM Academy. Although this project seems like just a lot of fun and games it’s a lot more than that. According to Mrs. Mitias “It gives {students} a way to compare different shapes and see why plane wings look like they do.” Justin Barnes stated that the class "helps me understand how forces like lift and drag interact with each other.” The STEM academies use of PBLs in the classroom isn't just a way to get out of paperwork but a way to give students hands-on experience on problems they may experience in the real world. The Nobel Prize
Shane Schnaidt A Nobel Prize is one of the most important awards which recognizes outstanding works and advancements in various subjects. These subjects include chemistry, physics, psychology, medicine, or literature, and economics. These awards represent hard work and the incredible advancements made from an individual's efforts to improve the world. Nobel Prizes project determination and positivity unto the world around us. Recently, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad for trying to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war. The Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded one half to Frances H. Arnold for directed evolution enzymes and the other half was awarded to George P. Smith and joined together with Sir Geoffrey P. Wither for the phage display of peptides and antibodies. It is because of hard work individuals like Mr. Mukwege and Mrs. Murad are we are able to continuously push the boundaries of innovation to improve our world. We can only hope that more people answer the call to improve our world. Check out our "Profile of a STEM Student" based on student design and input.
Pumpkin Chunkin'
Sarah Barnes Pumpkin Chunkin' has been a longlasting favorite of the fall season. Chucking pumpkins into the air and watching them explode on the ground represents an exhilarating feeling. In previous years, STEM students reminisce about the time when we partook heartily in the big STEM event at the O.L.C. Now, we finally had the chance. During the month of November, we were able to create trebuchets for the 1st Annual AP Physics Pumpkin Chunkin' Competition. For this interview, I met up with our newest teacher, Ms. Bull, who has taken on the physics class with energy and enthusiasm. When asked about the project initially, Ms. Bull brought optimism to the table saying, “I was excited for this project. I was definitely prepared to take on the challenge for myself and elated to see what the students were going to come up with.” As students began to learn about the project, it brought some intriguing tasks to the table. I later asked Nicholas Bianco, Junior STEM student, what his thoughts were on the project. Just like our teacher, Nicholas brought the same optimism and excitement. “I’ve been waiting for this project since Freshman year. I can’t wait for what we’re gonna do.” As the project waged on, ticking closer to Thanksgiving Break, some hiccups came along the way. Many teams struggled with the general design of their trebuchet while others had difficulty with the build themselves. I asked Nicholas how he took on these challenges while he and his team built their trebuchet. “For our trebuchet arm, it was crooked for a majority of the build. What we had to do was put a bar that held the weights to the right side so that it would not hit the mainframe. It worked out perfectly, then we had to figure out our sling. While we did get the sling to release, when it came launching pumpkins it didn’t launch the object as far as it did with tennis balls. Nonetheless, it was an effective trebuchet.” Many students faced a similar situation. Although many students were able to shoot the tennis balls far, it didn’t meet up when faced with pumpkins. While the students analyzed their trajectory, I went to the other side of the coin and asked Ms. Bull what problems she faced during the project. “Yes, there were many due to unforeseen circumstances and it is my first time to tackle such a huge project. We did our best to work with the hand we were dealt with. We all learned a lot and will make changes for next year.” I followed up on her response by asking her what changes should be done when next year Juniors take on the Trebuchet project. “I did not anticipate getting sick on the first day in the workshop, and thought since the bases were already built, the students would not need as much time in the workshop, but surprisingly, it actually takes a lot of effort in making trebuchets. Many factors arose while the students constructed their trebuchets. I think I’ll definitely provide the students more time for next year.” Despite the strenuous effect of the trebuchet, students still came out with bright enthusiasm and excitement for physics. We learned and more importantly, came together as a class to produce something entertaining and perhaps cool. I finally asked Nicholas his closing thoughts on the project.“I immensely enjoyed the project as a whole. It was fun to work as a team and build something as entertaining as a trebuchet. Despite facing hiccups with the launch itself, this project did have some mirth to it and I would love to do it again if I could.” |