Guest Blog by Marney Babbitt, NAHEC Youth Program Coordinator, Girls on the Run of Northern Arizona Council Director, North Country HealthCare Are you passionate about STEM, healthy living, empowering girls to be their best, brightest selves, and giving back to your community? If so, consider coaching for Girls on the Run. This may be the perfect fit for you! Girls on the Run (GOTR) is a physical activity-based, positive youth development program that inspires 3rd through 8th grade girls to recognize their limitless potential and boldly pursue their dreams. The 10-week Girls on the Run program, which is led by volunteer coaches (that's you!), focuses on helping girls develop key life skills, such as cultivating confidence, responding to oneself and others with care and creating positive connections. The teams also learn the value of giving back to their community through a service project. Girls on the Run is non-competitive and works to help each girl achieve her goal. Each season culminates with a 5k event that celebrates girls' growth during the season. How does GOTR relate to STEM? 66% of 4th grade girls say they love science and math but only 24% of the STEM workforce is female. Children's general perceptions of gender inequality don't start to set in until about age 7. Children who are engaged in physical activities in elementary school have higher self-esteem. As a GOTR Coach you will work closely with your team of girls and fellow Coaches. You will all have the opportunity to positively impact the lives of girls in your community, not to mention the tutus, glitter, beads and, oh yeah, cheers....lots of cheers! As a GOTR Coach you will be trained on the GOTR curriculum where you will learn how to work with the girls on important topics such as making friends, healthy relationships, inner beauty, and healthy nutrition, all while creatively integrating running. For example, the girls may have to answer questions about the day's topic each time they complete a lap, while you and your coaching team are encouraging and cheering the girls on. Girls on the Run is celebrating their 20th Anniversary and you can be a part of girl empowerment. Their message is: We believe that every girl can embrace who she is,
can define who she wants to be, can rise to any challenge, can change the world. Some quotes from GOTR girls that will help them as they move forward in life: "I learned to be strong and never give up." –Ciondra, Grade 6 Girls on the Run could make any girl fearless, because when you're surrounded by people you trust, respect and care for, nothing can hold you back from being the most beautiful person you have grown to be." – Josie, Grade 6 Note: GOTR Coaches do not have to be runners! You just have to be enthusiastic and have a desire to work with girls of this age group. Women and Men over 18 are welcome to apply. We can't wait to have you as part of the GOTR team! Still not convinced? Watch this short GOTR video here! Then apply to be a GOTR Coach by completing the NEW Coach application here: http://www.gotrna.org/get-involved/hey-coach To learn more about Girls on the Run of Northern Arizona visit www.gotrna.org or contact Marney Babbitt (mbabbitt@nchcaz.org) at 928-522-9452.
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Superbowl of STEM The 3rd Annual Flagstaff Community STEM Celebration kicked off the week on Monday, March 7th at the NAU Skydome with almost every school, STEM business, government agency, and non-profit in Flagstaff! You can relive the excitement with Flg4TV's 2 minute video here! High-Altitude Balloon Launch On Wednesday, March 9th, Teacher Kaci Heins and 100 NPA 6th graders sent their payload to over 106,000 feet on a high-altitude balloon from the Flagstaff Airport. Community Leader Bruce Sidlinger and his Aeronautics Engineering class from Flag High, Airport Director Barney Helmick, the Coconino Amateur Radio Club, the Civil Air Patrol, and many other community partners were there to assist. You can see images and hear the story from KNAU's science and technology field reporter Melissa Sevigny here. Women Executives in STEM Panel NAU hosted the panel on Thursday, March 10th. All of the women had connections to NAU and facilitator Elizabeth Glass recommended that the many students in attendance use their alumni network as they search career opportunities. AZ North Regional The Skydome was brimming again on Friday and Saturday with the CocoNuts and 52 other teams, for NAU's inaugural FIRST Robotics Arizona North Regional contest, which pitted robots against each other to try to take down a castle. You can read Corina Vanek's article on the event here. Microchip sponsored pit tours by volunteers from many of the teams, as well as a VIP luncheon that was well-attended by Flagstaff's government, business, and education leaders. FIRST, which stands for --- , is a non-profit founded in 1989 by Dean Kamen, the inventor of the Segway. It encourages students to pursue STEM and also develops skills in teamwork, problem-solving, creativity, and gracious professionalism. Congratulations to everyone on helping make STEM Week 2016 the best ever in Flagstaff STEM City!
Lowell Observatory has been hosting astronomy camps for kids for the past four years. They began with the elementary age summer camps, and then added the year-round monthly pre-school camps three years ago. Lowell continued building their outreach program by adding middle school summer camps two years ago. The camps build on each other so students in increasing grade levels move from closer to more distant objects in space, and from simpler to more complex topics. As Samantha Flagg, Education Coordinator at Lowell said, "I love that moment when they really grasp that concept - that lightbulb moment." The 1st and 2nd graders study the solar system and build models of the planets. 3rd and 4th graders study galaxies, and the 5th and 6th graders focus on life on other worlds. They worked in teams with different tasks (communication, landing, safety, etc.) and designed a mission to Europa. The Middle School camps are in the evening and the students becomes observational astronomers, learning how to use the telescopes and navigate the night sky. High School students can begin volunteering at Lowell Observatory when they are 16 years old. LOCKS (Lowell Observatory Camps for Kids) solid instructional model pairs a certified teacher with a Lowell educator and often an intern as well. This means there is both teaching and astronomical expertise for each class, as well as a low student to adult ratio. Lowell also employs a registered nurse onsite to ensure child health and safety. The preschool camps continue monthly on the third Saturday of the month. These activity-based, hands-on camps are for children ages 3 to 5. View the LOCKs Preschool flyer here. And many thanks to the teachers, instructors, and interns that let me join in the summer adventures at Lowell Observatory!
If you want to build a dynasty, go learn from Dave Thompson and Christine Sapio. These two indefatigable coaches of the CocoNuts Robotics Team at Coconino High School have the secret. Start with the youth and don't quit. The CocoNuts robotics team began in 2007, and Camp COCONUTS (Challenging Outrageous Camp of Nutty Unique Technology and Science) began in 2011. Some of the students that participated in those camps are now on the CocoNuts team and are teaching the camps this summer. The success of the CocoNuts is evident in the data. 100% of the CocoNuts graduate from high school with scholarships and continue on to college. Over 90% go into STEM fields. The 26 'Nuts that have graduated from CHS have brought in over $4 million in scholarships. The CocoNuts aren't just about robots. They have been the recipients of FIRST's prestigious Inspire Award, Engineering Inspiration Award and five-time winners of the Regional Chairman’s Award. The CocoNuts spend countless hours working in Flagstaff and beyond to mentor new students, coaches and teams, and to host robotics tournaments. They have a new coaches camp next week - two days (July 22nd-23rd), all you need to know to coach a team, and only $20. Contact Christine to register! Now that's how you build a dynasty! Building on Corina Vanek's article on Women in STEM in the Arizona Daily Sun, it is encouraging to note that almost 40% of the CocoNuts are young women, more than the 26% average with 9-12th grade FRC teams in FIRST. The CocoNuts are also mentoring a new Girl Scouts team this year. Please visit the team website for more information and to get involved in this critical STEM program.
Critter Kids Unleashed is the Second Chance Center for Animals (SCCA) summer day camp. The camp, taking place this week, immerses students in animal-related learning activities, animal interactions, and engaging visits with special guest speakers. Campers also help with projects benefitting both local wildlife and the animals at the Second Chance Center. The camp is instructed by humane education coordinator Sherie Jones with assistance from high school camp counselor Layni Wells. Ten animal-lovers, ranging in age from seven to ten, discussed the importance of prairie dogs in our grassland communities. The campers then pulled up the tall weeds in the SCCA's Gunnison Prairie Dog Habitat to improve the landscape so prairie dogs could more easily scout predators. Sherie ensures that the students in the camp learn about our native wildlife as well as domestic animals in the summer camp. A speaker from the Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery team visited with the students earlier in the week. Layni, a Flagstaff High School junior, has been volunteering at SCCA for the past seven years. She recently attended the summer Veterinarian Program for Future Veterinarians at Colorado State University. Sherie is a Certified Vet Tech, has been at SCCA since it opened in 2004, and has been working in animal welfare for 20 years. Sherie believes "Educating the public is so important in our mission to enhance the human-animal bond. Helping children learn to respect and care for all living things and the environments they live in is why I am here." SCCA has educational components as part of their volunteer program. A new program, Animal Science Kids (ASK), will have monthly animal and veterinary education for high school students. Sherie also gives tours to STEM clubs and classes visiting the SCCA. She also presents information at school sites. There is almost no limit to what Sherie can discuss when it comes to animals! She has presented on veterinary medical procedures, pharmacology with science and math connections, animal nutrition, animal diseases and much more. Contact Sherie or Mindy if you are interested in learning more about SCCA outreach.
A big thank you to Sherie, Layni, and the Second Chance Center for Animals! Elii Chapman is the 5th and 6th grade science and math teacher at Flagstaff Junior Academy. Elii engages in numerous hands-on studies with her students. She recently became a beta tester for Foldscope. What is Foldscope? Taken from their website: Foldscope is an origami-based print-and-fold optical microscope that can be assembled from a flat sheet of paper. Although it costs less than a dollar in parts, it can provide over 2,000X magnification with sub-micron resolution (800nm), weighs less than two nickels (8.8 g), is small enough to fit in a pocket (70 × 20 × 2 mm3), requires no external power, and can survive being dropped from a 3-story building or stepped on by a person. Its minimalistic, scalable design is inherently application-specific instead of general-purpose gearing towards applications in global health, field based citizen science and K12-science education. Ten thousand beta testers in over 130 countries were chosen to receive 50,000 Foldscopes. As a chosen tester, Elii received 12 Foldscopes. She invited FJA students and their parents to form a family Foldscope Club, and they met on April 11, 2015 to build the foldscopes. Foldscopes were designed when Manu Prakash and his bioengineering team at Stanford University asked the questions, "What happens to the world if every single kid carries a microscope in his/her pocket? Moreover, what can we achieve in science, medicine, and industry with improved access to microscopes around the globe?"
Foldscopes can be attached to smart phones and the camera function can then take photographic images seen through the scope. These images can be uploaded to the Foldscope image site. The Foldscope Club also has a Pinterest site where you can see some of their images.
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