Equipping to Compete in STEM Competitions

My Students

Winning our state STEM based competitions this year as an academically challenged school was a great feat. Students are eager to attend Nationals! Winning at Nationals is our goal. Students would benefit from eating nutritiously in order to support the level of endurance and cognition needed for success.

Our students vary in academic levels, ethnicity and gender.

Diversity makes our school team so unique and dynamic. This is the first year we had at least 1/3 of our team of 13 female! Our school is very close to becoming a Title I school and continues to struggle with our reading and math scores; however, both sets of scores are improving. Our 8th grade science scores have soared. Our STEM/Tech Ed classes may have contributed to this success. There is a great mixture this year of all grade levels on our team. At least two 6th graders and one 7th grader will be attending the Nationals. Our hope is that they share their exciting experiences from this event with their peers upon their return so that more are interested in competing at STATE competitions. Our accomplishments are well-known now so we were able to win the support of two funders to help defray costs for a hotel. We hope you will support us, too!

My Project

Students attending the TSA Nationals Competition will be competing in several competitions such as Energy Sources (use of geothermal energy in our community), Construction Challenge (we built a trellis for our school garden), Electrical Applications, Tech Bowl, Problem Solving Challenges, Environmental Issues with a focus on reducing pollution & waste, Go-Green (built a decorative alternative for lighting in a kid's bedroom, dining room and/or home if lights go out using LED), and Water Infrastructure with focus this year on green infrastructures (project focus on use of permeable sidewalks and walkways as a means of conserving water.) One of the few events in which only a few can represent each state at nationals is one which we won. We will represent our school and state at Nationals in this event which is Medical Technology Issues. Our school community has been greatly impacted by our club research focus which is cancer. We are now improving all submissions based on state feedback.

My students know the importance of education and the role STEM education plays in our environment.

Support for this project helps students move one step closer to making it a reality for them to be major contributors by equipping them with the "other" brain power needed to complete their ability to demonstrate the leadership and learning competency skills required to be successful citizens and learners in the 21st century. My students need assistance with the purchase of meals during this competition event. Both the educational depth received and nutritional fuel sought will help.