STEM Students Wins Regional Science Fair

On of our freshmen STEM Academy Students, Aly Ashraf took 1^st place in Physics & Astronomy at the Regional Science Fair and also was awarded the US Army Award for Outstanding Project in Physical Sciences!  His project is titled: Aerodynamics of Ping Pong.

EBC Meeting Reminder

Dear CHS Engineering Booster Club members,

    This is a reminder e-mail that our February EBC general meeting will take place tonight, February 21st, 2012 at 7:00 PM in the school Library.

    As previously noted, we will be taking a brief tour of the activity wall to start the evening, followed by EBC business and announcements.

    The agenda will include:

    - Schedule of upcoming events and competitions
    - Scholarship Committee
    - Plans for March Potluck Social
    - Upcoming Board Member Elections
    - Naviance Overview - This a planning tool/application the students can use to help begin their college plans. Our goal is to familarize the parents with this resource.
    - ASEE Overview - American Society for Engineering Education


    As always, don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions, comments or suggestions.

Best Regards,

Kevin Cowan
CHS Engineering Booster Club, President

Senior Parents FAFSA night

Calling all parents of seniors.  If you haven't already completed your FAFSA paperwork for college, we invite you to our first FAFSA night.  We will have one of the admissions people from UT Dallas come in to the computer lab in D108 to help you get started on filling out the FAFSA.  Without the FAFSA, you run the risk of missing out on a lot of financial aid.  Much of the aid available to students cannot be received without having the FAFSA completed.  Be sure to bring your tax statements and information.  You will have to have this to complete the paperwork.  Please email me at (myakubovsky@coppellisd.com) to reserve a computer as space will be limited.

Date: Thursday, March 1, 2012
Time: 6:30 PM
Location: CHS D108

If US Wants More Engineers, Children Must Be Engaged Early, Professor Writes.

In an op-ed in the Record and Herald News (2/10), Priya Natarajan, Professor of Astronomy and Physics at Yale University writes, "America's universities are not graduating nearly enough scientists, engineers and other skilled professionals to keep our country globally competitive in the decades ahead." Natarajan writes, "This critical shortcoming appears in high school and possibly in elementary grades - long before college. If we want more Americans to pursue careers in STEM professions, we have to intervene much earlier than we imagined." STEM subjects, she writes, "require an enormous amount of foundational learning before students can become competent." She writes, "We need to help students understand that math and science are cumulative disciplines and help them enjoy learning even as they gradually build a base of knowledge." 

-ASEE article

National Merit Finalists

Congratulations to two School of Engineering Students, Matthew Baucum and Vern Zhang, on their qualification as National Merit Scholarship Finalists.  Vern is a two year member of the FIRST Robotics Team.  Matt has been in the EXCITE Program for the last 3 years and been in the Aeroscience Studies class the last two years.  Congratulations!!!!!

St. Patrick's Day Party

The STEM Academy will be having an after school get together on Friday, March 9 right after school in the Lecture Hall.  Sign up to bring food and join the fun.

STEM Sophomore Field Trip

The STEM Academy sophomores will be going on a field trip April 3.  We will first visit IBM and then go to Brookhaven College.  At Brookhaven, we will have the opportunity to see their GIS lab and learn more about the GIS Dual Credit program recently made available to STEM students.

A geographic information system (GIS) integrates hardware, software, and data for capturing, managing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information.  GIS allows us to view, understand, question, interpret, and visualize data in many ways that reveal relationships, patterns, and trends in the form of maps, globes, reports, and charts.  A GIS helps you answer questions and solve problems by looking at your data in a way that is quickly understood and easily shared.  GIS technology can be integrated into any enterprise information system framework.

STEM Summer Camp at the University of Arkansas

We have just opened the registration form for the STEM Academy Summer Camp at the University of Arkansas this summer.  More information will be coming soon.  We will be posting all of the summer camp information on the School of Engineering website.  You can find the registration link on the left side of the announcements blog.

Please bear with us as this is our first time to offer a camp like this.  There are still a number of details to be worked out, but it promises to be a fun and exciting week.  That being said, we can use some assistance.  Areas of assistance needed include, registration and documents, the "Engineering Garage Sale" we are trying to put on later in the spring, travel plans, and chaperones for the trip.  If you are willing to help, please send an email to Mr. Yakubovsky.

Society of Women Engineers Meeting

The Society of Women Engineers will be meeting on  Wednesday 2/15 at 4pm in the Library Classroom.  Cari Ossenfort from DRS will be meeting with the girls that afternoon.  

8th Grade Parent Expo

The 8th Grade parent expo last night was a huge success.  Thanks to everyone who helped out. It was standing room only in the Design Lab.  For those that missed it, we will be having another meeting later this month.  At this meeting, we will be giving information for all parents (Rising 9th-12th).