2012-2013 Palm Beach County SECME Design Seminars

In the SECME program, students are required to design, build, and test a variety of engineering research projects throughout the year. SECME student teams construct balsawood bridges for structural strength, cars powered solely by the spring from a mousetrap to race across gymnasiums, and two liter bottle rockets to launch for maximum hang time. Essays and artwork communicating student interpretations of this year’s theme, “Think it’s impossible? Think sySTEMatically. THINK SECME!” will be displayed and judged. The engineering Olympiad competition in February is the culmination of projects completed as a result of classroom activities, and of students, parents, teachers and partners participating in Saturday engineering design seminars. Design seminars familiarize students with the events in the annual Olympiad completion. They provide the people, the place, and the parts to work on SECME submissions. Students also interact with practicing engineers who help them understand the importance of education in the global economy with the ultimate goal of encouraging students to pursue postsecondary degrees in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). Please plan on attending!

Coach Ed Batchelor and Captain Sam Smith
Above: Seminole SECME Coach Batchelor and Captain Sam Smith during a Mousetrap Vehicle Design Seminar.

The School District of Palm Beach County and the SECME South Florida Industry Partners are hosting the following design seminars in 2012-2013. Seminars last approximately 2-4 hours. Students are responsible for their own transportation to and from the seminars:

• Thurs. Sept. 20 @ 4:30 PM PM—Mousetrap Vehicle Design at Fulton-Holland Educational Services Center.
Directions: I-95 to Forest Hill Blvd. Go west on Forest Hill past Congress Ave. Turn left at Davis Road. Building is on left.
• Sat., Sept. 24 @ 9 AM—Mousetrap Vehicle Design at Lantana Middle, 1225 W. Drew St., Lantana, FL 33462
Directions: I-95 to Hypoluxo Rd. East to 14th St. and turn left. Go to West Drew St. and turn right. School on right side.
• Thur., Oct 11 @ 5 PM—Bridge/Truss Design at Fulton-Holland Educational Services Center.
Directions: I-95 to Forest Hill Blvd. Go west on Forest Hill past Congress Ave. Turn left at Davis Road. Building is on left.
• Sat., Oct 20 @ 10 AM—Water Rocket Design at Acreage Branch Library, 15801 Orange Blvd., Loxahatchee, FL 33470
Directions: Take Northlake Blvd. west to Seminole Pratt Whitney Rd. Turn south (left). Proceed south for 2.2 miles to Orange Blvd.
• Thur. Oct 25 @ 5 PM—Technical reports and drawings drafting at Fulton-Holland Educational Services Center.
Directions: I-95 to Forest Hill Blvd. Go west on Forest Hill past Congress Ave. Turn left at Davis Road. Building is on left.
• Sat., Nov. 3 @ 9 AM—Mousetrap Vehicles and Bridges at H.L. Johnson Elementary, 1000 Crestwood Blvd. N., Royal Palm Beach, FL 33411 Directions: I-95 to Okeechobee Blvd. West to Royal Palm Beach Blvd. Turn north on Royal Palm Bch. Blvd. School on west side of street.
• Sat., Nov. 17 @ 9 AM—Bottle Rockets Design at Palm Springs Middle, Address: 1560 Kirk Rd., West Palm Beach, FL 33406
Directions: I-95 to Forest Hill Blvd. West to Kirk Rd. School on NE corner.
• Thurs. Nov. 29 @ 5 PM—Mousetrap Vehicle Design at Fulton-Holland Educational Services Center.
Directions: I-95 to Forest Hill Blvd. Go west on Forest Hill past Congress Ave. Turn left at Davis Road. Building is on left.
• Tues. Dec. 4 @ 5 PM—Banner/Poster/Brain Bowl at Fulton-Holland Educational Services Center.
Directions: I-95 to Forest Hill Blvd. Go west on Forest Hill past Congress Ave. Turn left at Davis Road. Building is on left.
• Thur. Jan 24 @ 4:30 PM—DEADLINE: Registration, Rocket Patch, Essay, Technical reports and drawings due at Fulton-Holland Educational Services Center.
Directions: I-95 to Forest Hill Blvd. Go west on Forest Hill past Congress Ave. Turn left at Davis Road. Building is on left.
• Sat., Feb 9 @ 8 AM—SECME Elementary Olympiad at Santaluces High, 6880 Lawrence Rd., Lantana, FL 33462
Directions: I-95 to Hypoluxo Rd. West to Lawrence Rd. School is on NE intersection of Hypoluxo and Lawrence Rd.
• February TBA—Florida Atlantic University Engineers Week Event
Directions: I-95 to Hypoluxo Rd. West to Lawrence Rd. School is on NE intersection of Hypoluxo and Lawrence Rd.
• Sat., Feb 23 @ 8 AM—SECME Secondary Olympiad at Santaluces High, 6880 Lawrence Rd., Lantana, FL 33462
Directions: I-95 to Hypoluxo Rd. West to Lawrence Rd. School is on NE intersection of Hypoluxo and Lawrence Rd.
• April TBA—SECME Annual “Celebration of Achievements” Awards Banquet
For directions starting from Seminole Ridge High, visit http://tinyurl.com/SeminoleRidgeHigh

STEMinar 2010 at Seminole Ridge

Attention SECME students, proud parents, cool coordinators, and business partners backers!

The Seminole Ridge STEMinar on Saturday, November 20, 2010 from 9 AM to 1 PM. We provide the people, the place, and the parts to work on SECME submissions. Focus your collective best resources to build and break bridges; rev up your mousetrap powered race car; blast off bottle rockets; blueprint your banners; and battle in the brain bowl!

Directions to Seminole Ridge High: Travel west on Southern Blvd. (SR 80, or Route 441), or Okeechobee Blvd. to Seminole Pratt Whitney Rd. Turn north. School on west, across from Callery Judge Grove, before old Winn-Dixie plaza. For more detailed directions, click on http://tinyurl.com/SeminoleRidgeHighto Mapquest from Seminole Ridge High

BALSA WOOD BRIDGES
Practice making mini- bridge/ trusses that simulate SECME requirements. Coordinators are responsible for bringing all necessary supplies to the STEMinar:
 ¼ by ¼ Balsawood (several pieces)
 Insta-Cure glue or Wood glue
 wet wipes or paper towels
 Wood cutter or hobby hand saw
 Miter Box (optional)
 square level (optional)
 Balsa cutters
 Sand paper
 pencils
 Rulers and meter stick
 Wax paper
MOUSETRAP VEHICLES
Coordinators are responsible for bringing necessary materials and supplies to the STEMinar for each person attending:
 1 Victor mousetrap
 1 strip of 1/2” X ¼” Balsa wood
 3-4 wheels or CDs
 scissors
 Balsa wood cutters
 pliers
 brass tubing (optional)
 spacers (optional)
 washers (optional)
 string (optional)
 bandaids (optional)

SECME Design Seminars Are STEMulating Minds

In the SECME program, students are required to design, build, and test a variety of engineering and research projects throughout the year. SECME student teams will construct balsawood bridges for structural efficiency. Cars powered solely by the spring from a mousetrap will race across gymnasium floors and water bottle rockets will launch into the air to maintaining the maximum hang time. Essays, artwork, and banners communicating student interpretations of this year’s theme, SECME: STEMulating Minds, will be displayed and judged.

The Olympiad competition is the culmination of projects completed as a result of classroom activities, and of students, parents, and teachers participating in Saturday engineering design seminars. The seminars familiarize students with the events in the annual Olympiad completion. They provide the people, the place, and the parts to work on SECME submissions. Students also interact with practicing engineers who help them understand the importance of education in the global economy with the ultimate goal of encouraging students to pursue postsecondary degrees in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).

Above: Cindy Dosch, left, and Brian Bartles, right, from Seminole Ridge SECME work intently on a nosecone during a Bottle Rocket Design Seminar.

The School District of Palm Beach County and the SECME South Florida Industry Partners are hosting the following design seminars this autumn. All seminars are from 9 AM to 1 PM. Students are responsible for their own transportation to and from the seminars:
• Sat., Sept. 25—Bridge/Truss Design at Palm Springs Middle, 1560 Kirk Rd., West Palm Beach, FL
Directions: I-95 to Forest Hill Blvd. West to Kirk Rd. School on NE corner.
• Sat., Oct 2—Mousetrap Vehicle Design at H.L. Johnson Elementary, 1000 Crestwood Blvd. N., Royal Palm Beach, FL
Directions: I-95 to Okeechobee Blvd. West to Royal Palm Beach Blvd. Turn north on Royal Palm Bch. Blvd. School on west side of street.
• Wed., Oct 6 at 4:30 PM—Banner/Poster/Brain Bowl at Fulton-Holland Educational Services Center. Coordinators only.
Directions: I-95 to Forest Hill Blvd. Go west on Forest Hill past Congress Ave. Turn left at Davis Road. Building is on left.
• Sat., Oct 23—Bottle Rocket Design Seminar at Discovery Key Elementary, 3550 Lyons Rd., Lake Worth, FL
Directions: I-95 to 10th Ave. N. Go west to Jog Rd. South on Jog to Lake Worth Rd. West on Lake Worth Rd. to Lyons Rd. North on Lyons. School is on the right--past entrance to Cypress Woods development.
• Wed. Nov 3 @ 4:30 PM—Technical reports and drawings drafting at Fulton-Holland Educational Services Center. Coordinators only.
Directions: I-95 to Forest Hill Blvd. Go west on Forest Hill past Congress Ave. Turn left at Davis Road. Building is on left.
• Sat., Nov. 20—Seminole Ridge STEMinar on Mousetrap Vehicles and Bridges at Seminole Ridge High, 4601 Seminole Pratt Whitney Rd., Loxahatchee, FL 33470
Directions: I-95 to Okeechobee, west on Okeechobee Blvd. approx. 14 miles; right on Seminole Pratt Whitney Rd. approx. 2.5 miles; school is on the left. For more maps and directions from Seminole Ridge High, visit http://tinyurl.com/SeminoleRidgeHigh
• Sat., Dec. 4—Bottle Rockets Design at Don Estridge Middle, 1798 NW Spanish River Blvd., Boca Raton, FL
Directions: I-95 to Yamato Road. West to Military Trail. South to next light--Spanish River Blvd. Go east on Spanish River Blvd. School is on south side.

Find Someone Who... Knows Earth Science

Mrs. Tracy Trimpe uses Daily Science Trivia as a quick class starter activity. I adapted her materials as an icebreaker. The goal of a "Find Someone Who..." activity is to meet and talk to as many people as possible within the time limit in order to put one name and an answer by each of the questions.

Click here to download a PDF copy of
Find Someone Who... Knows Earth Science used at opening of the 2009 STEMinar at Seminole Ridge.

Click here for the answer key.

Welcome to the STEMinar

Good morning SECME school coordinators, proud parents, interested industry partners!

We welcome you at the STEMinar at Seminole Ridge High School. We are starting 8:30 AM with an icebreaker activity (click here for PDF) for the Brain Bowl.

The gates will be unlocked and you can arrive at 8 AM for light refreshments, provided courtesy of Costco and Starbucks (donations will be accepted). ... See More
Cold Water, Hot Cocoa, Coffee & Tea... $1.00
Chips...$0.50
Honey Bun...$0.75

You can get customized map and directions to Seminole Ridge High by clicking http://tinyurl.com/SeminoleRidgeHigh and entering your starting point.

STEMinar at Seminole Ridge summary

On Saturday, December 12th, Seminole Ridge High School hosted a county-wide design seminar for the annual engineering Olympiad. Eighty students (51 from elementary, 7 from middle, and 22 from high schools), 22 school coordinators, and 25 proud parents, 2 district administrators, and an actual rocket scientist from Pratt Whitney attended the day long event. They worked on their entries for engineering contests to design and build mousetrap cars and water bottle rockets; and in general knowledge games with the "Brain Bowl."

Pierce Hammock Elementary

Survey Monkey see, STEMinar monkey do, too

S.T.E.M.inar at Seminole Ridge High School
Saturday, December 12, 2009
8:30 am – 12:30 pm

In the end, the brain bowl seminar gets some love, but too little, too late. Ballots for mousetrap vehicles are tied with water bottle rocketry at nine votes apiece, with balsawood bridges getting seven votes and banner/poster designs getting five.

The annual STEMinar at Seminole Ridge High School is the only design seminar west of the Turnpike brings together master teachers, proud parents and creative community engineers to work on SECME Olympiad projects. Refreshments (water, chips, etc) have been provide by Costco, and will be on sale for a small donation.

Question #5 - Please indicate which design seminars you are interested in attending (pick two). Each seminar would lasts 90 minutes.

Survey Monkey snapshot as of Dec 7, 2009

CLICK HERE to register your school for the STEMinar if you haven't already.

Our RSVP guests:
1. Frontier Elementary
2. Northmore Elementary
3. Glade View Elementary
4. Belle Glade Elementary
5. Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts
6. Meadow Park Elementary
7. Forest Hill Elementary
8. H.L. Johnson Elementary
9. Omni Middle
10. Gove Elementary
11. Royal Palm Beach High School
12. Cholee Lake Elementary
13. Bak Middle School of the Arts
14. Jaega Middle School
and of course
15. Seminole Ridge Community High School

Survey Monkey see, STEMinar monkey do

S.T.E.M.inar at Seminole Ridge High School
Saturday, December 12, 2009
8:30 am – 12:30 pm

The STEMinar at Seminole Ridge is less then 2 weeks away, so it's a prime time to see what statistically significant information will be used for planning it.

Registration for the STEMinar is through Survey Monkey, which if you have a well-designed survey makes analyzing the data a no-brainer.

Question #5 - Please indicate which design seminars you are interested in attending (pick two). Each seminar would lasts 90 minutes.Survey Monkey snapshot as of Dec 1, 2009

See? Out of 11 responses, mousetrap vehicles are in the lead, followed by water bottle rocketry, and a tie for third between balsawood bridges and banner/poster designs. And speaking of no-brainers, no one likes the brain bowl :(

CLICK HERE to register your school for the STEMinar if you haven't already.

STEMinar at Seminole Ridge High

S.T.E.M.inar at Seminole Ridge High School

Saturday, December 12, 2009
8:30 am – 1:00 pm

Attention: SECME students and school coordinators!
Join master teachers, proud parents and creative community engineers to work on Olympiad projects. Build and break bridges; blast off bottle rockets; blueprint your banners; and battle in the brain bowl!

Register online at
http://tiny.cc/m9vDR
Email questions to Erich Landstrom at SeminoleSECME [at] gmail [dot] com

Please bring any existing Olympiad submission which you would like to receive assistance. Bring any necessary supplies (such as balsa wood, glue, etc.) for projects that you want to start that day.

Directions to Seminole Ridge High: Travel west on Southern Blvd. (SR 80, or Route 441), or Okeechobee Blvd to Seminole Pratt Whitney Road. Turn north. School on west, across from Callery Judge Grove, before Winn-Dixie plaza.

STEMinar at Seminole Ridge High School

S.T.E.M.inar at Seminole Ridge High School

Saturday, December 12, 2009
8:30 am – 1:00 pm

Attention: SECME students and school coordinators!
Join master teachers, proud parents and creative community engineers to work on Olympiad projects. Build and break bridges; blast off bottle rockets; blueprint your banners; and battle in the brain bowl!

Register online at
http://tiny.cc/m9vDR
Email questions to Erich Landstrom at SeminoleSECME[at]gmail[dot]com

Please bring any existing Olympiad submission which you would like to receive assistance. Bring any necessary supplies (such as balsa wood, glue, etc.) for projects that you want to start that day.

Directions to Seminole Ridge High: Travel west on Southern Blvd. (SR 80, or Route 441), or Okeechobee Blvd to Seminole Pratt Whitney Road. Turn north. School on west, across from Callery Judge Grove, before Winn-Dixie plaza.