November/ December 2014 ISSUE
Recent Happenings in STEM
Jorge Wishes You All a Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!
STEM to Participate in TechnoExpo
By: Jordan Dunn On February 26, 2015 TechnoExpo is taking place at Northwest High School. This annual event is a time students and teachers can enter and present their best work and technology throughout they year to the community. Melissa Griffith, a technology instructor at Northwest, explained the event in more detail, saying, “Techno Expo is a yearly showcase where students promote just how technology takes their learning to another level. Students have the opportunity to showcase their work to a broader audience and engage the community in their learning.” During the interview she added that something new is coming to Techno Expo this year that will interest more kids. “Students can submit their own projects! Teachers can still submit them for the students but now students can submit on their own project,” she explained.
STEM Senior Julio Santos has presented at TechnoExpo in past years. He said, “I will be presenting either the Aerospace Lander project or the Engineering project, but in both projects we used Prezi, SolidWorks, and also a 3D Printer.” Julio is excited and is looking forward to presenting at event next year. Julio is most looking forward to “meeting new people and getting the experience of presenting in front of new people at the Techno Expo.” Mrs. Griffith is the Director of Instructional Technology and she helps students and kids learn how to use technology. Mrs. Griffith was telling me that the kids presenting in Techno Expo can add the experience to their ePortfolios, Resumes, and various applications, such as college, scholarship, student council, and honor society applications. Since the deadline to submit for Techno Expo is January 14, 2015, students will have their winter holiday to put together their presentation and submit it. Again, the event and presentations will take place February 26, 2014 at Northwest High School. Submit pictures here: https://sites.google.com/a/nisdtx.org/techno-expo/ STEM Seniors Tour GE
By: Kyle Hadley and
On
November 20, General Electric, a manufacturing company that specializes in
electronic equipment in the fields of home products to aviation, invited the STEM
seniors on a special tour. Students explained that on the tour they were able see
the whole process of locomotive building from start to finish.
“It’s crazy,” remarked STEM senior Julio Santos. “the leaders showed us a top secret train their making.” Senior Chance added, “…In the GE Plant we learned how engineering applies within the business. We were also able to see the different jobs and how they are intertwined in order to make the process easier and faster. ” STEM senior Sebastian said that the trip gave him “inside perspective on the production of something one see’s every day the actual time spent of production phases of the locomotives was shocking”. After the trip, the seniors visited Alliance Center and returned to the high school with numerous souvenir generously donated by General Electric. Overall, STEM seniors learned a valuable lesson about the abundant amount of different components needed in order to withstand the tasks necessary to complete a project in the business world. |
Robotics Team Reaps Rewards
By: Will Humber At one of Northwest ISD's latest board meetings the Robotics team was awarded with an $8,000 dollar check by GE representatives. There to accept the check were Mrs. Casey Helmick, Seniors Ryan Rodgers, Harriet Simon, Kira Hays, and Josh Sowyer, and the STEM robot Jorge. The STEM robotics team was sponsored by GE last in October.
In addition to being sponsored by GE, the Robotics team won a grant from RackSpace for $1,500. Lisa Beard and her team from the organization presented that award to the robotics team. Lastly, The STEM Robotics team recently went to Haltom High to compete at a competition at Haltom High school scoring some honorable rewards while overcoming accidents. The team had been preparing this robot for weeks, getting it ready to compete against other high school teams from around the district. Receiving multiple rewards the team also received some problems, including battery issues while on the course. After arriving at Haltom High the team set up the robot for competition. Senior Josh Sowyer explained how due to software problems the team had to “wipe the robot and laptop then re-download the software” to get the programming to work. Another obstacle was stated by team member Gabino Bencomo, “the battery died in the controller as we were on the field.” Veteran robotics team member Elizabeth Helfer explained how the motors they had, referred to as jaguars, were “awful” and that they plan on getting better ones so the “robot won’t go crazy.” Although faced with these road blocks, the team kept going, which resulted in a big kickback. The team earned rewards including a $150 gift card to GameStop for “Best Video”, which also included a really nice plaque. They also won the wild card slot in the competition. Overall the team got into the top 7. By the next competition Elizabeth hopes that the grants they received will be used for “better materials for necessary things we aren’t given.” The team worked hard on the robot and pushed through many road blocks on the way to competition and made it to the top. The Robotics team this year out did themselves at this competition and will be going to their next competition, where they will compete at a national level, on January 3. STEMtendo: Writing and Video Game Design A recent in project in Ms. Lloyd's STEM English class required students to answer the driving question: "how can short stories and narrative elements bring attention to larger social issues?" This assignment was a part of a larger PBL assignment, wherein students needed to create a video game that merged game play and narrative in order to bring light to a social issue of their choice. First, the students had to write a short story allegory on which they could base their game, in order to introduce the main conflicts of the story line, their dynamic characters, and the setting of the game. Students were then asked to record audio versions of their stories so that their audience would get the full emotional and literary experience of what they intended for their story. You can listen to many of the stories by clicking the button below.
|
STEM Teams up with Tidwell Titans Twice
By: Tommy Speicher
By: Tommy Speicher
Revit
is an engineering program that is very similar to AutoCAD, however, it’s mainly
used for 3D drawings and to help give a more accurate image of the structure.
In the STEM academy at Northwest High School Mrs. Delong and her students were
given the opportunity to create a news desk for Tidwell Middle School, and the
opportunity to design 4 collabrative spaces out of unused space at the middle school.
To go review the common areas Mrs. DeLong and her class went on a field trip.
First looking at the desk, Mrs. DeLong, Shayla Anderson, Jacob Suchors, and a couple of her older students were given the chance to design Tidwell’s news desk. Before they started building they had to research all different types of desks. Once they felt like they had an abundance of knowledge on newscast desks, they began designing. Their first design was like many famous news desks, with the large curved side and the school emblem on the outside. However, they ran into a problem. The student’s sitting on the small curve side wouldn’t have any room, so they went back to researching and designing. They then stopped to visit Northwest's news casting room, and they realized that the desk was the opposite than what they had. Therefore, they decide to flip the desk around putting the students on the longest side and giving them plenty of room to do the school news. The product is now in the final stages of being designed and is almost ready for presenting. Talking for his class and himself, Jacob said that they are “honored to build this desk for the middle school". He added, "I almost cried when they asked me”.
Along with building the news desk, Mrs. DeLongs Revit class was also assigned by Tidwell to design the open common areas. These common areas are open to the hall way with no ways in between. While looking at the plans you can see that these parts of the school are double the width of a normal hall. Student JD Eggert explained, “They wanted us to design a collaborative area for their students. We first had to put it in Revit, and then had to choose collaborative furniture”. Along with chairs and tables going into these spaces, Tidwell also requires white boards and monitors that can be connected to the students and teacher tablets or computers. By adding these items they want their teachers to take their students out to these areas during class to allow better collaboration.
STEM is an academy built on the idea of teamwork. Doing these two projects allows STEM to show how it contributes to the community and proves that teachers and students can work together to be successful. These projects also show how Northwest ISD uses their students’ creativity to help create better learning environments for all of their students, and how they give their students the opportunity to solve real problems with the skills they’re learning.
First looking at the desk, Mrs. DeLong, Shayla Anderson, Jacob Suchors, and a couple of her older students were given the chance to design Tidwell’s news desk. Before they started building they had to research all different types of desks. Once they felt like they had an abundance of knowledge on newscast desks, they began designing. Their first design was like many famous news desks, with the large curved side and the school emblem on the outside. However, they ran into a problem. The student’s sitting on the small curve side wouldn’t have any room, so they went back to researching and designing. They then stopped to visit Northwest's news casting room, and they realized that the desk was the opposite than what they had. Therefore, they decide to flip the desk around putting the students on the longest side and giving them plenty of room to do the school news. The product is now in the final stages of being designed and is almost ready for presenting. Talking for his class and himself, Jacob said that they are “honored to build this desk for the middle school". He added, "I almost cried when they asked me”.
Along with building the news desk, Mrs. DeLongs Revit class was also assigned by Tidwell to design the open common areas. These common areas are open to the hall way with no ways in between. While looking at the plans you can see that these parts of the school are double the width of a normal hall. Student JD Eggert explained, “They wanted us to design a collaborative area for their students. We first had to put it in Revit, and then had to choose collaborative furniture”. Along with chairs and tables going into these spaces, Tidwell also requires white boards and monitors that can be connected to the students and teacher tablets or computers. By adding these items they want their teachers to take their students out to these areas during class to allow better collaboration.
STEM is an academy built on the idea of teamwork. Doing these two projects allows STEM to show how it contributes to the community and proves that teachers and students can work together to be successful. These projects also show how Northwest ISD uses their students’ creativity to help create better learning environments for all of their students, and how they give their students the opportunity to solve real problems with the skills they’re learning.
Schluter Elementary School at the OLC
By: Allison Gray On the 21st of November, several STEM students went to the Outdoor Learning Center (OLC) with students and teachers from Schluter Elementary School. The goal of the OLC day was to introduce the elementary students to some principles of physics. At the OLC, the STEM students acted as “tour guides,” as well as ran booths about various physics concepts. One STEM student, Leila Aghili, managed a booth about trebuchets. To her surprise, “they already seemed to know a lot about trebuchets.”
Another STEM student, Ridge , helped the kids build catapults using popsicle sticks, rubber bands, spoons, and pencils. They also made a pumpkin launcher with TEX bands and cloth. The kids “were freaking out and thought it was awesome,” commented Riage. Over all, the OLC day was a success. It was enjoyable for everyone, but also very educational for the kids from Schluter. “They learned about tension forces and how the force behind an object can move it very fast- but it was more for fun,” said Ridge. Leila concurred, stating that “I think they learned a lot.” The elementary students wrote Mrs. Helmick and the STEM students thank you notes, which are featured below. |
Junior World Affairs Council: Field Trip to UTA
By: Joshua Pratt There is a group of about 20 students who meet every other Tuesday to talk about what is going on in the world, and how they can get involved. Ms. Proudman, the group's sponsor and a STEM teacher, said that "they are working currently on a community service project" where they plan on creating awareness about a international issue. They are also working to learn how they can collect funds for charities.
Recently, the Junior World Affairs Council went on a fieldtrip to UTA to learn more about the world. At UTA, students attended a conference where they could choose which lecturers they wanted to hear speak. Speakers covered many topics including world health, international law, human rights issues. Hunter Britton, one of the teens who participates in the world affair council, went to a lecture where a retired military major talked about what the military does and how they contribute to the country and the world. Two other students, Garrett Riley and Chris Hopkins, went to a lecture about human rights and humanity. Garrett explained that the speaker stressed, “It’s our responsibility to be a good person. In humanity, when it comes to human rights there are not 'buts'; there are no exceptions.” They also attended more lectures over current events and global energy and international law Ms. Proudman stressed that there are no requirements to join the group if students are trying to get involved; the group meets every other Tuesday from 3-5, on an alternating schedule as the Philosophy club. |
STUDENT SPOTLIGHTS
Spotlighting a Senior: Soren Campbell
By: Kyle Hoselton
By: Kyle Hoselton
The senior spotlight is focused on STEM senior named Soren Campbell. Unlike the other past interviews Soren went really in depth with every question that was asked, especially when he talked about the extracurricular activities he is in and the advice he gave to the freshmen this year. This is a special edition because it is the last Senior Spotlight in 2014 and for this addition the team has asked Soren what he will do during winter break and the resolution he made for the next year.
Soren has been a member of the National Honor Society as well as a member in the National Technical Honor Society, an ambassador for the National Society of High School Scholars. For STEM he has been a part of the STEM Robotics Team for 2 and a half years and Soren is planning on coming back during the spring. The TAARC Rocketry Team was a club that he really enjoyed for a couple years. In addition, have competed in a Technology Student Association Competition that Soren went to state for. Soren also completed Eagle Rank in his Boy Scouts, which was very thrilling for him! Finally was also a part of the Northwest Football Team for all 4 years of high school. The members of the article were very astonished of involved he has been not only in school but in his community as well, the team wondered how he has the time to do his schoolwork from all of these exciting clubs and organizations Soren does. He admitted it was very difficult to balance all of it at once “there were times If I bit off a little more than I could chew I would drop an activity that didn’t matter to me as much, which was tough when all of them seemed pretty important. Then other times I would pull off late nights to catch up on homework then wake up early the following morning.” However, Soren was able to make things easier for him once he put sleep as the top priority, Soren had more energy to do things that he needed to do. That is his advice he wanted to give to the busy bees that are working their butts off this year especially the STEM students, “establish a healthy sleep schedule it will make a HUGE difference on how you focus in class and the work that is put on the assignments given to you” quite a statement that Soren said for those hard workers out there in STEM let’s hope that they will acknowledge his statement.
The next question was what will he do once he graduates high school this is what he said, “When I graduate, I plan on going to college to study biological sciences the following school year. After that, I intend on studying medicine in med-school to come closer to my goal of becoming a doctor.” Becoming a doctor is not easy goal to achieve Soren it takes a lot of studying and effort the team wishes him the best of luck. However, before he starts with his studies during the summer after he graduates he said he “wants to get a fun summer job and enjoy the little adolescence I have left.” As long as Soren doesn’t do anything stupid that it could ruin his chances to become a doctor he has the best of the team’s wishes. This answer is more of an advice for the freshmen this year. “To the underclass men I say that you have a fairly short road ahead of you. Your high school career is going to fly by, so I would suggest taking advantage of the opportunities you have at the beginning before you regret not taking them at the end. For some of you, school may not be that important, but I urge you to at least try to learn something and better yourself while you are here, because it will be harder to do so when you are older. If I can do it, I guarantee you can too. That being said, it is important to have fun, because this is a very momentous period in your life and you have the right to break loose every now and again…but don’t be stupid about it.” A true claim that all of the students have to realize in order to make it in the real world if not then the world will eat them entirely.
Soren has enjoyed the STEM academy greatly but his exact words were that “STEM ROCKS! Before I entered the academy, I did not know how to deal with people. I also did not know what field I wanted to enter for my career. Plus, I did not know how to multi-task. These are all valuable pieces of information I would need to understand before I went into a university, and I am fortunate to say that I am ready to take the next step because of what STEM has done for me.” And because of STEM,Soren now knows what he wants to be and know what to do to become a biological scientist or if that doesn’t work a doctor for his second calling. When the team asked Soren the awards he earned throughout STEM, he explained that he split the awards into two categories: “Brags and Gags”. The Brags are the awards, he feels, hold some weight, such as “Most Persuasive” and “Best Project Defense” he believes that are more like his skills are rewarded from the work his has gone above and beyond on. Then there are the Gags, these awards are just neat to have, they are more based on reputation instead of achievement, this would be more like “Most likely to be a Millionaire” and “Most likely to own a Company” these awards are just a boost in Soren’s ego and confidence.
For Christmas Break Soren is going to the Texas A&M football stadium to see the west side of the stadium blown up. What a way to start the holidays Soren, just don’t get caught in the middle of the destruction you need to stay alive to celebrate you and your girlfriend’s birthdays together. That was the other big part of Soren’s break he didn’t want to tell us what he was planning to do for their birthdays Soren said it would ruin the surprise, instead Soren did tell the reporting crew his New Year’s resolution which is to be more fluent with a foreign language. Soren feels like that this would help him greatly the older he gets and it would be fun to at least give it a try for next year. This has been the last and most special of the 2014 STEM Newsletter, Senior Spotlight Christmas edition the entire Newsletter team wants everyone to have a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR the we will see everyone next year!!!
Soren has been a member of the National Honor Society as well as a member in the National Technical Honor Society, an ambassador for the National Society of High School Scholars. For STEM he has been a part of the STEM Robotics Team for 2 and a half years and Soren is planning on coming back during the spring. The TAARC Rocketry Team was a club that he really enjoyed for a couple years. In addition, have competed in a Technology Student Association Competition that Soren went to state for. Soren also completed Eagle Rank in his Boy Scouts, which was very thrilling for him! Finally was also a part of the Northwest Football Team for all 4 years of high school. The members of the article were very astonished of involved he has been not only in school but in his community as well, the team wondered how he has the time to do his schoolwork from all of these exciting clubs and organizations Soren does. He admitted it was very difficult to balance all of it at once “there were times If I bit off a little more than I could chew I would drop an activity that didn’t matter to me as much, which was tough when all of them seemed pretty important. Then other times I would pull off late nights to catch up on homework then wake up early the following morning.” However, Soren was able to make things easier for him once he put sleep as the top priority, Soren had more energy to do things that he needed to do. That is his advice he wanted to give to the busy bees that are working their butts off this year especially the STEM students, “establish a healthy sleep schedule it will make a HUGE difference on how you focus in class and the work that is put on the assignments given to you” quite a statement that Soren said for those hard workers out there in STEM let’s hope that they will acknowledge his statement.
The next question was what will he do once he graduates high school this is what he said, “When I graduate, I plan on going to college to study biological sciences the following school year. After that, I intend on studying medicine in med-school to come closer to my goal of becoming a doctor.” Becoming a doctor is not easy goal to achieve Soren it takes a lot of studying and effort the team wishes him the best of luck. However, before he starts with his studies during the summer after he graduates he said he “wants to get a fun summer job and enjoy the little adolescence I have left.” As long as Soren doesn’t do anything stupid that it could ruin his chances to become a doctor he has the best of the team’s wishes. This answer is more of an advice for the freshmen this year. “To the underclass men I say that you have a fairly short road ahead of you. Your high school career is going to fly by, so I would suggest taking advantage of the opportunities you have at the beginning before you regret not taking them at the end. For some of you, school may not be that important, but I urge you to at least try to learn something and better yourself while you are here, because it will be harder to do so when you are older. If I can do it, I guarantee you can too. That being said, it is important to have fun, because this is a very momentous period in your life and you have the right to break loose every now and again…but don’t be stupid about it.” A true claim that all of the students have to realize in order to make it in the real world if not then the world will eat them entirely.
Soren has enjoyed the STEM academy greatly but his exact words were that “STEM ROCKS! Before I entered the academy, I did not know how to deal with people. I also did not know what field I wanted to enter for my career. Plus, I did not know how to multi-task. These are all valuable pieces of information I would need to understand before I went into a university, and I am fortunate to say that I am ready to take the next step because of what STEM has done for me.” And because of STEM,Soren now knows what he wants to be and know what to do to become a biological scientist or if that doesn’t work a doctor for his second calling. When the team asked Soren the awards he earned throughout STEM, he explained that he split the awards into two categories: “Brags and Gags”. The Brags are the awards, he feels, hold some weight, such as “Most Persuasive” and “Best Project Defense” he believes that are more like his skills are rewarded from the work his has gone above and beyond on. Then there are the Gags, these awards are just neat to have, they are more based on reputation instead of achievement, this would be more like “Most likely to be a Millionaire” and “Most likely to own a Company” these awards are just a boost in Soren’s ego and confidence.
For Christmas Break Soren is going to the Texas A&M football stadium to see the west side of the stadium blown up. What a way to start the holidays Soren, just don’t get caught in the middle of the destruction you need to stay alive to celebrate you and your girlfriend’s birthdays together. That was the other big part of Soren’s break he didn’t want to tell us what he was planning to do for their birthdays Soren said it would ruin the surprise, instead Soren did tell the reporting crew his New Year’s resolution which is to be more fluent with a foreign language. Soren feels like that this would help him greatly the older he gets and it would be fun to at least give it a try for next year. This has been the last and most special of the 2014 STEM Newsletter, Senior Spotlight Christmas edition the entire Newsletter team wants everyone to have a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR the we will see everyone next year!!!
Recent Projects and Events
STEM Students Launch Roanoke Elementary PBL Using Skype
By: Garrett Garcia and Axel Besa
By: Garrett Garcia and Axel Besa
Robots are a very popular subject in today’s world of super-fast advancing technologies. With the growth of popular demand for robots, one day robots will probably be a thing of every day tech like cell phones and computers. That is why the STEM Academy robotics team thought it would be a great idea to show the future generation of kids what these little things can do (although they are not all that little).
The STEM Academy’s Robotics team put together a robot that could simply drive around the room, has an arm to wave to the students, and pick things up. Now this is just a simple robot (although even a simple robot is a lot of work), it was perfect for the occasion because the third graders were not terrified of it because it was scary looking, but they enjoyed it.
They also then gave the children a chance to make simple machines (tree Houses) and present them, and the juniors would judge. The machines and presentations and critique them. Josh Sowyer had his quote from his panel of judges. “We were impressed by the quality of their projects, and their use of vocabulary was far above their grade level.” The STEM kids really enjoyed showing their robotics skills to the 3rd graders and are looking forward to see what they do with the new knowledge gained.
The elementary students were very excited to see the robot that the stem robotics team built. You could tell how excited they were by their eagerness to volunteer and show off their technological advancements. When Ife Durodoye, one of the elementary students was asked if robotics would be something he would like to do in the future his response was “Yes because you get to build a robot.” A follow up question was asked; would you like to be in stem? He answered with “Yes because I think technology is a cool thing.”
The STEM Academy’s Robotics team put together a robot that could simply drive around the room, has an arm to wave to the students, and pick things up. Now this is just a simple robot (although even a simple robot is a lot of work), it was perfect for the occasion because the third graders were not terrified of it because it was scary looking, but they enjoyed it.
They also then gave the children a chance to make simple machines (tree Houses) and present them, and the juniors would judge. The machines and presentations and critique them. Josh Sowyer had his quote from his panel of judges. “We were impressed by the quality of their projects, and their use of vocabulary was far above their grade level.” The STEM kids really enjoyed showing their robotics skills to the 3rd graders and are looking forward to see what they do with the new knowledge gained.
The elementary students were very excited to see the robot that the stem robotics team built. You could tell how excited they were by their eagerness to volunteer and show off their technological advancements. When Ife Durodoye, one of the elementary students was asked if robotics would be something he would like to do in the future his response was “Yes because you get to build a robot.” A follow up question was asked; would you like to be in stem? He answered with “Yes because I think technology is a cool thing.”