STEM Students Create Empowering Girls Conference

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The Empowering Girls Club, started by four Jerry Knight STEM Academy learners, held their kick off event on April 6 at the Mansfield ISD Center for the Performing Arts. The event was meant to help build middle school girls self-esteem.

The club began as a school project created by seventh-graders Erica Christenson, Lillian Osborne, Rebecca Peck and Anna Tomlinson, and is now blossoming into an ongoing resource for female students to be empowered and inspired for years to come.

“The purpose of creating Empowering Girls was to mainly help teenage girls with their self-esteem,” said Tomlinson. “We saw a problem with their social and emotional learning and we really just wanted to help them maintain a higher self-esteem throughout their education careers.”

The event was for moms and their students. It featured guest speakers, breakout sessions and the Debully Band.

“I loved seeing all the girls during it and seeing how interested they were in the actual event itself,” said Peck. “It made me very proud of all the work we did.”

The event stemmed from a project focusing on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, a psychology theory that states that there are certain needs that must be met before becoming self-actualized.

“We tasked all of our learners with identifying a need in the community,” said Jeremy Beckwith, a designer at the STEM Academy. “This is a significant need with the young girls in our society right now. I’m very proud that they chose something that is near and dear to them.”

Using the engineering design process, the creators began planning for the event in the fall of 2018 and in December, Empowering Girls was awarded a grant from the MISD Education Foundation.

“The research part of this project was probably one of the longest stages,” said Tomlinson. “We needed a lot of information to try to make our club the best it can be.”

In the future, the creators hope to expand the event to make it more purposeful and impactful.

“I’m proud of the event and the work we’ve done,” said Osborne. “Overall it was a lot of work, but it was really great.”

STEM Academy Participates in Engineering Week

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All engineers start somewhere, but in Mansfield ISD young engineers can get a head start at the Jerry Knight STEM Academy. The academy, located at Brooks Wester Middle School, offers students an advanced academic program designed to provide a rigorous and focused course of study.

This week the academy hosted Engineering Week, a national initiative started by Discover E, a foundation aimed to increase engineering education in grade schools.

“The goal of Engineering Week was to help expose our kids to different types of engineers and careers so that they might be able to make better educated decisions to know what they’re going to study in high school and possibly college,” said Laura Thomason, a designer (teacher) at Jerry Knight.

Approximately 30 presenters ranging from coders to pilots and everything in between spoke with students this Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Knight designers also spent time helping students implement what they had learned in the classroom using activities like vision boards.

The presentations gave students a better understanding of possible STEM careers and offered insight on future career paths.

Nathan Ninh, a sixth-grader at Jerry Knight with aspirations of becoming an astronaut said, “I’ve learned that there is a lot of design that goes into engineering and that you have to think outside the box on most jobs, and I think that you also have to have a lot of good team skills.”

Jason Daniels, a software developer for Saddle Oak Software who has a daughter at the academy, enjoyed the opportunity to talk about his job with other students.

“I’m very excited to be here today,” said Daniels. “I love what they’ve been doing here with the kids and how they’re teaching them the engineering practices.”

Both students and teachers think Engineering Week provides a unique and much needed perspective.

“I feel this week is important because it helps us learn about things I feel like we would never learn from anywhere else,” said Ninh.

New MISD Drone Class Begins Spring 2019

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The use of drones—also known as unmanned aircraft systems (UAS)—is on the rise, and Mansfield ISD is starting a new class to help students prepare for the booming industry.

Edu-Drone will be offered in January 2019 with a focus on obtaining skills to become a commercial drone pilot for a variety of career pathways.

“It’s just such an exciting adventure for us,” said Christie Alfred, executive director of curriculum and instruction. “It allows students from all different interest areas to come in…and it’s potentially a huge opportunity for employment for them as they graduate high school.”

The classes will take place at Ben Barber Innovation Academy (BBIA) for MISD high school juniors and seniors.

Drones are also incorporated into the curriculum
at the Jerry Knight STEM Academy.

After successfully completing the course, students will be able to take the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Part 107 exam to become a certified drone pilot.

“We have drone clubs at some elementary schools. Also, at our STEM Academy, they’re very involved in the drone program and will soon have competitions. Those types of activities promote the pipeline for students to engage in the Edu-Drone class in the future,” Alfred continued.

Beverly Ver Steeg will be the instructor for Edu-Drone. She currently teaches engineering and aerospace classes at BBIA and is excited to expand the aviation offerings at the school.

“I actually fly drones at home and kind of play with them. It’s a hobby,” said Ver Steeg. “When we knew we were getting a class, I was like, ‘Yeah!’ and sort of pushed to teach the course.”

The 11th- and 12th-graders in Edu-Drone must have passed Algebra I, be at least 16 years old and hold a valid driver’s license.

There is still space in the class. Interested students can visit their counselor for more information on how to get enrolled.

New Summer Camp Challenges Students to Make and Create

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There’s an inventor in all of us. That’s what students entering fifth grade learned this week in Mansfield ISD’s inaugural Maker University.

The university featured five different colleges: film, robotics, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering and graphic design. Participants chose two of those colleges to focus on for the week.

“We wanted our campers to make things and create things using some of the tools that are unique to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM),” said Jeremy Beckwith, the camp administrator.

Students in the robotics college built robots and drone remotes.

Students created commercials, programmed remotes for drones, constructed gliders, made slime and printed on 3-D printers, to name a few.

Although there was much to learn, Beckwith said fun is the primary objective of the camp.

“We want the kids to have a good time while they’re here,” Beckwith continued. “We wanted them to let their imaginations run wild in whatever choice they have. And that’s the other big thing. We gave them choice.”

Katelyn Castro, an incoming fifth-grader at Della Icenhower Intermediate School, said the camp stretched her mind and provided her with new ways to solve problems.

“It gives you more challenges,” she said. “And it’s very entertaining, compared to just sitting down at a desk and working on papers, because you’re actually in the action.”

Maker University was held at the Jerry Knight STEM Academy from June 18 through June 22. The camp capacity was 100 students.

Students Explore STEM Topics at Summer Camp

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Hundreds of Mansfield ISD students spent part of their summer experiencing that science can be fun and interactive.

MISD’s Science Camp allowed kids entering grades 1 through 5 to engage in hands-on labs and experiments while studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

“The children get an opportunity to really enjoy school in the summer with science,” said camp administrator Daniel Beauford. “It’s very much a camp feel.”

One of the most popular activities was a lockbox escape room, in which students solved puzzles and received clues to unlock boxes and get a prize.

Students also tinkered with circuits, played with robots, launched catapults and built putt-putt golf courses with recycled materials.

Students enjoyed solving puzzles to open the lockboxes.

“In mini golf, I learned engineering,” said Genesis Hunter, an incoming fourth-grader at Willie E. Brown Elementary School. “It was fun, and we got to build things.”

This year, the district extended the science camp to two one-week sessions to accommodate more students. A total of nearly 600 students attended the camp.

Beauford said although the projects are fun, his goal is to teach students how each activity links back to STEM topics.

“Some of the time, they don’t even know what they just did, and then when you explain the science behind it, they’re like, ‘That’s what that was?’ So that’s pretty awesome,” Beauford continued.

The first camp session ran from June 4 to June 8. The second session began on June 11 and will wrap up on June 15.

On the last day of each session, the students show their parents everything they learned that week.

Organizers said they’re excited to see so many kids being passionate about science. They expect camp attendance to continue to grow.

MISD Crews Prepare Down to the Bell

Anderson Elementary was rebuilt under the 2011 bond package.

In a matter of days, the newest MISD facilities transformed from looking like a construction site to being pristine buildings.

Charlotte Anderson Elementary School and The STEM Academy at Brooks Wester Middle School were ready to accept students and parents for the first day of school, but it took a lot of teamwork to reach to that point.

“It was amazing to see the construction workers, maintenance crews, custodial staff from different campuses, teachers and staff work together,” said Franklin Alvarenga, custodial supervisor for the Anderson Elementary School project. “We worked long nights and early mornings—even on the weekends—but we were so fortunate to have the resources and support needed to get the job done.”

Construction on the facilities were underway for months; however, the weather and earlier start of the school year made the completion schedule even tighter.

Alvarenga said Mansfield ISD staff had six days to move in and clean up at Anderson Elementary School. He said the reward was the look on the children's faces when they saw their newly rebuilt school.

“There’s a sense of satisfaction that your time and effort pays off and is recognized,” Alvarenga said.

The STEM Academy is currently housing 75 sixth-graders.

Over at the STEM Academy, the principal said she was overwhelmed by the amount of support she received to move into the building. Victoria Webster and her staff were given the “okay” to go inside on Monday, giving them only two days to get everything in place.

“The teamwork was absolutely phenomenal,” said Webster. “Everybody was checking up on us, and there was no complaining. The mentality was to get it done, and get it done right.”

Crews remained up until the wee hours of the morning putting the finishing touches on the building. Webster said she was surprised and grateful to see all the progress that was made in such a short amount of time.

“When everything was finally done, it was like a dream,” said Webster. “It was shocking to see something that you’ve been imagining actually come to life.”