The GEAR UP Health Sciences camp took place on OSU’s campus in late June 2011. The camp was a success and students had a great time- check out the Oregon GEAR UP: Health Sciences Camp YouTube video created by OUS GEAR UP staff to see what it was all about!
Adventures in Learning is not just another summer program. AIL combines stimulating academic and social opportunities in a fun-filled 10-day experience that exposes participants to exciting and sophisticated areas of interest not usually found during the regular school year. AIL is designed for gifted, talented, and high-ability learners who have completed grades 5 or 6 and are intersted in fast-paced, challenging opportunites.
The Corvallis Gazette Times met with AIL students yesterday on OSU’s campus. Follow this link to read the story!
http://www.gazettetimes.com/news/local/article_055c9c14-b425-11e0-9d0b-001cc4c03286.html?mode=story
There are many exciting programs happening on the OSU campus this summer for K-12 youth!
Please take a moment to learn about Outside the Box, featured on KEZI news yesterday evening:
http://kezi.com/news/local/218408
Volunteer with Kids has been awarded $10,427 from the OSU Women’s Giving Circle to continue their work in to the 2011-12 school year!
Volunteer With Kids is a partnership of precollege programs that are working together to equip and connect students at Oregon State University with volunteer and paid opportunities to work with youth. Experiences with youth can help university students develop skills that are applicable to any job, including leadership, teamwork, critical thinking, problem solving,professionalism, and communication.
In order to facilitate this process, there is a dedicated website and e-mail newsletter to inform students about volunteer opportunities. Additionally, in order to help students gain the knowledge and skills necessary to work with youth, there will be a series of 1-hour workshops that students can take over the course of the year, culminating in an exciting and exhilarating experience with the Challenge Ropes Course at OSU.
By participating in these workshops, and completing 5 hours of volunteer time with youth, students will receive a Volunteering With Youth certificate that can be highlighted in resumes, cover-letters, and job interviews.
To find more information about Volunteer with Kids, please visit www.volunteerwithyouth.com or contact Precollege Programs Coordinator, Katie Neiert at katie.neiert@oregonstate.edu
The Scientists and Teachers in Education Partnerships Program (STEPs) at OSU will be offering free science workshops for K-12 educators on astronomy (Aug. 2-3), water sustainability (Aug. 15-17), and biotechnology (Au. 22-23). Information http://steps.oregonstate.edu/calendar or contact Kari van Zee at 541-737-4517
The STEPs program is a K-12 science outreach program at Oregon State University which is funded by a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Its mission is to support and improve science, math, health, and engineering education for K-12 teachers and students throughout the state of Oregon. To find out more, please visit http://steps.oregonstate.edu/
With the help of a grant from the Oregon Engineering and Technology Industry Council, Oregon State University’s Center for Outreach in Science and Engineering for Youth (COSEY) will provide summer camps infused with science & engineering curriculum. Local camps serving 5th -8th graders will include newly developed programming with a theme of sustainability, in an effort to prepare and inspire more students to enter exciting science and engineering fields. Students and families interested in benefiting from these exciting camps can contact India Sloat, COSEY Coordinator, at india.sloat@oregonstate.edu or (541) 737-5231.
COSEY has developed a library of project-based activity kits with a sustainability theme (solar cell cars, wind power, oil spill clean-up, electricity generation and more) that will be used to engage 5th-8th grade students in multi-day summer camps to be held in communities throughout Oregon this summer. The outreach program is partnering with Boys and Girls Clubs, 4-H programs, Oregon GEAR UP programs, and other extracurricular and summer camp organizations to expand opportunities in science and engineering education to diverse students across the state, focusing on programs with a track record for serving rural and underserved students.
Through this partnership, trained college student instructors are delivering summer camps over the course of two summers, and will reach approximately 700 students. The activity kits are rich with possibilities, including a mock oil spill activity in which students test substances that can remove oil from water, a homemade solar panel lesson in which student use titanium dioxide and berry juice to generate an electrical current, a computer design lesson in which students use innovative software to create a “green” dream home, and much more. The activity kits developed in this project will also serve as valuable long-term resources for out-of-school programs and educators who can borrow them through the COSEY lending library.
This project is a collaborative effort between youth outreach organizations at OSU, Boys and Girls Clubs in Corvallis and Salem, and 4-H International Summer Camps. The OSU organizations are: the Center for Outreach in Science and Engineering for Youth (COSEY) within the Office of Precollege Programs, the Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory and Saturday Academy. A camp schedule is below and more information about COSEY can be found on the OSU Precollege Programs website:
• Boys and Girls Club of Corvallis- June 21-23
• OSU Engineering Camp- June 28-30
• Sweet Home Junior High – July 5-8
• La Pine Middle School- July 12-14
• Boys and Girls Club of Salem Wipper Teen Center – July 19-21
• North Marion Middle School – Aug 2-4
• 4-H Latino Summer Camp, Salem – Aug 9-11
• Coffenberry Middle School, South Umpqua – Aug 16th-18th
The Oregon University System (OUS) and the Engineering and Technology Industry Council (ETIC) awarded OSU’s COSEY a $99,619 grant in 2009 for the two-year program, as part of their “Bright Future” grants aimed to increase pre-college engineering initiatives and programs for K-12 students. These grants are one component of ETIC’s goal to increase engineering and computer science graduates in order to meet state and industry needs for a highly-skilled, globally competitive workforce in Oregon.
Bruce Schafer, executive director of ETIC says, “We are very excited to support expanded hands-on activities for students in pre-engineering across the state this summer. Oregon’s industries need future innovators in science and engineering. Exposing talented young people to the real-world applications in science can open their eyes to the fun, relevance, and many opportunities in science careers.”
Be a mentor for PeaceJam 2011 with Nobel Peace Prize Winner Rigoberta Menchu Tum!
April 15-17, 2011.
PeaceJam is a powerful weekend for over 200 high school youth from around the Pacific Northwest. Our PeaceJam mentors are a crucial role in making this weekend such a success. Many mentors have been equally as inspired and moved by the PeaceJam conference and the youth as the youth themselves. Every year, we are blown away by how powerful but also how much fun the weekend is. We’d love for you to join us!
Role of mentors:
Benefit to being a mentor:
The commitment for mentors will be:
(Must be able to commit to all times).
Email or drop applications by our office (123 Snell Hall) or to Janet Nishihara in 337 Waldo by March 15, 2011.
Receive Credit: If you would like to sign up for credit, you can sign up for 1 credit for completing all responsibilities of a PJ Mentor, with an optional 2nd credit if you plan to write the paper. The CRN for the credit is: 54518.
Check out http://oregonstate.edu/peacejam for more information!!
For the fifth year, the 4-H Program at OSU has received an $80,000 grant to host an ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Summer Science Camp. Former astronaut Dr. Bernard Harris and ExxonMobil have partnered since 2006 to provide this two-week residential camp program free of charge to underserved middle school students at 30 college campuses across the country.
The State 4-H Office is inviting Oregon middle school students entering grades 6, 7, and 8 in the fall 2011 to apply to attend the ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Summer Science Camp (EMBHSSC) this summer at OSU. All selected campers will be fully funded by scholarship. There will be 48 youth selected to attend the program to be offered July 31 through August 11, 2011. The camp promotes science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education and supports historically underserved and underrepresented students with limited opportunities.
The application involves completing an application form, writing a 250 word student essay, recommendations from Science and Math teachers and school test scores in math and science of at least a B average. Information is available on line at http://oregon.4h.oregonstate.edu/summer-science-camp. The application deadline is Friday, April 1, 2011. A printed copy of the registration form can be requested from Camp Coordinator Andy Hoffmann by calling 541-737-4081 or email fourhscicamp@proaxis.com.
The two-week residential camp offers youth innovative ways to enhance their knowledge of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Students are introduced to college life by living in a dormitory and attending classes that include problem solving, science inquiry, engineering principals, research, and communication skills. Students participate in a pre- and post-camp evaluation. In 2010 evolution results showed that for the fourth year in a row, there were significant changes in camper science process skills from the beginning of camp to the end. In addition, an increase in camper science interest and attitudes were found from pre to post camp.
Quests are fun, free-choice learning adventures that use clues and hints to encourage participants to discover the natural, cultural and historical “treasures” of place and community. Suitable for groups of all ages, self-guided Quests allow lifelong learners to explore parks, trails and other outdoor spaces in new ways and at their own pace. Most Oregon Coast Quests are located on the central Oregon coast, but as the activity gains in popularity, more communities are taking part. Currently, Quests can be found in Lincoln, Coos and Benton counties.
The clues are found in the Oregon Coast Quests guidebooks, available at bookstores around the region (including the Hatfield Marine Science Center). At the end of each self-guided interpretive Quest, participants find a hidden Quest box containing a log-book to sign and a hand-carved stamp to mark their accomplishment. The true “treasure” is the fun of the walk and learning about special places in the community.
Quests are great fun for families and school groups! Check out the Hatfield Marine Science Visitor Center website for more information: http://hmsc.oregonstate.edu/visitor/oregon-coast-quests
As featured in AAA Magazine.
Close to 100 middle school girls and their parents were at OSU on Saturday for the annual “Discovering the Scientist Within” program put on by a collaborative group across campus and the community. The event is designed to foster teenage girls interest in science and engineering in addition to connecting with parents about ways to continue encouraging their daughters in these fields.
Cathy Law, director of Saturday Academy and a member of the planning team, said “The mentorship of the undergraduate women from the science sorority was incredibly valuable. The middle school students really connected with them. For me, the real highlight of the day was looking out at Milam Auditorium and seeing the number of people interested in spreading interest in science and engineering among females.”
OSU’s Daily Barometer also picked up the story and interviewed participants at the end of the day. “… Fifth grader Emily Anderson said she became more interested in science because of the event. ‘I think it’s cool because some things you think are simple turn out to have a bigger background than you think they would,’ Anderson said. ‘I want to be a vet when I grow up so science is pretty important to me, so learning more about it would get me more ready for it.’”
