By Jay Wilson
The Henry Cluster STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, & Music) Foundation continues to expand the cooperation an involvement of SDSU and the schools within our cluster.
With the continued success of the annual Robotics Showcase Extravaganza, now in its second year and co-sponsored by the San Carlos Library and the HC STEMM Foundation, we have an opportunity to help establish new school-based robotics teams. We received a grant from the Wong Foundation to help fund a limited number of school-based new robotics teams. The grant is for new robotics teams from grades K-12. Students, parents, teachers or other individuals interested in forming a school-based robotics team are eligible to apply. For more information about applying for grant funding, please contact us at [email protected].
On March 15, the HC STEMM Foundation hosted 20 students from Patrick Henry High School at the annual San Diego State University’s Pre-College Institute (PCI) STEM Exploration Day. This invite-only event is an opportunity for high school students from underrepresented backgrounds and communities to explore STEM-related areas of study and career paths.
Fifteen high schools from Sweetwater Union High School, Grossmont Union High School, and San Diego Unified School Districts were invited to participate. This marked the first year Patrick Henry High School was invited. The HC STEMM Foundation provided the funding to send Craig Olson, PHHS career and technical education instructor, and 20 of his students. The full day included opening remarks from Dr. Cynthia Park, executive director at the Pre-College Institute, a message from keynote speaker, Dr. Joseph F. Johnson, Jr., interim SDSU provost, and predesigned rotations of workshops and labs such as “Experimental Theatre,” “Financial Literacy,” “A Day in the Life of a Marine Biologist,” and “Service Learning: Stacking Cups, Cyber Security, and How a Ball Falls.” The Patrick Henry students also included a workshop at the Planetarium.
The HC STEMM Foundation would like to acknowledge and thank Nate Sachdeva, with the Partnerships and Work Based Learning, Office of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Music) Innovation with the San Diego Unified School District and Listy Gillingham, Patrick Henry High School Principal, for their support. We would like to express our appreciation to Dr. Cynthia Park; Nadia Rohlinger, Pathways Office coordinator of service learning at SDSU College of Education; and their entire staff at the Pre-College Institute. We are grateful for the extra hours and hard work they put in to make STEM Exploration Day possible.
We anticipate participating in this event next year and sponsoring another inspiring group of students. We look forward to collaborating with Dr. Parks and the Pre-College Institute on additional opportunities for students within the Henry Cluster.
For more information about the foundation, visit hcstemm.org.
— Jay Wilson writes on behalf of the Henry Cluster STEMM Foundation.
