Moby - an idea for water rocket seminar

Idea for decorating a water rocket: paint orange and details for a Moby head. Not sure how aerodynamic it will be, but it will look like a winner.



Moby and Lily Landstrom

Moby and Mr. Landstrom

Ever wonder how spaceships leap off the planet and fly into outer space? In this BrainPOP movie, Tim and Moby will teach you the basics of space flight! First, you’ll get a brief lesson on the physical forces that send spacecraft zooming into space. Next, you’ll learn some of the main concepts of rocketry, including the all-important force called thrust. You’ll also gain an understanding of the two basic types of rockets and how they work to get spacecraft off the ground. And you’ll learn a bit about various types of spacecraft and the rockets they use to become space-bound. So strap in and get ready for the countdown to begin--this movie is really out of this world!

Going to Mars With MAVEN Student Art Contest

The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission, also known as MAVEN, is set to launch to the Red Planet in November 2013. And your artwork could hitch a ride to Mars!

To enter the contest, participants must be ages 5-17. All artwork must be original. The contest is open to students worldwide. Entries are due April 8, 2013. The public will vote to select the winner. Winning artwork will be used on a DVD label that will fly to Mars on the MAVEN spacecraft.

For more information and to submit your artwork, visit http://lasp.colorado.edu/maven/goingtomars/art-contest/.

Seminole SECME Seminar on Water Rockets 10/20

WATER BOTTLE ROCKET SEMINAR
Hosted by Seminole Ridge SECME

WHEN: Saturday, October 20, 2012 10:00 am – 2:00 pm

WHERE: The Acreage Branch Library is on Orange Blvd. just east of Seminole Pratt Whitney Road, behind the Publix Super Market. For directions, visit http://www.pbclibrary.org/branch-acr.htm.
We will be launching around 1 PM at Acreage Community Park just down the road, 140th Ave & 67th St N. (weather permitting). Students are responsible for their own transportation to and from the event sites. Elementary and middle school students must be accompanied by an adult (either chaperon or parent).

WHY: Working in teams, students construct a simple bottle rocket from two-liter soft drink bottles and other materials. The rocket is powered by air pressure and water, and judged by longest hang time.

WHAT TO BRING: (2) 2 LITER BOTTLES (PER STUDENT REQUIRED), PACKAGING TAPE, PARTY HATS, FIN MATERIAL (SUCH AS FOAM DISPOSABLE DINNER PLATES, CORRUGATED PLASTIC (NOT CARDBOARD) FROM CAMPAIGN SIGNS, PERMANENT MARKER, MEASURING TAPE OR RULER, SCISSORS, NEWSPAPERS.

Click here to register!

WBR Big Bang Theory's Mission Patch

Kyle's on crutches while he sat like that!
Thank you to junior Kyle Maglietta, artist and contortionist, who created this year's mission patch for the water rocket competition.



Each team will develop a patch design, used to symbolically commemorate the objectives of the mission. The team’s complete success will not solely be judged on rocket performance, but the combined effort of the team. Entries are judged on
Originality - Innovativeness of the design (30 points), Creativity - Uniqueness of the information depicted (30 points), Appearance - Attractiveness/neatness of the presentation (20 points), and Content - Representation of the team's name and SECME theme (20 points).

Water Bottle Rocket: In the middle of the patch is a rocket, split in half. On the right, it is a water rocket launched by compressed air and water, seen trailing a blue and white cloud. On the left, it is a conventional chemical launch vehicle, seen trailing red and orange flames, and grey clouds. The rocket is split to symbolize the present day and our future. The plan is we build rockets today, and tomorrow those STEM skills we gain in SECME help with what we want to be doing in the future. On the body of the water rocket side is written “HAWKS” for Seminole Ridge Community High School and our school’s mascot, the hawk.

The Big and Little Dipper: In the background are the star groups of the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper. The asterism of the Big Dipper represents our SECME coordinators Mr. Landstrom and Mr. Batchelor. The Little Dipper represents the Seminole SECME students of 2011-2012 team.

SECME cyclone: In the lower right corner is the symbol of SECME, Inc., resembling a hurricane off the coast of Florida. A second SECME cyclone appears on the Moon to represent the first permanent lunar colony. The mission of SECME is to increase the pool of historically under-represented, under-served, and differently-abled students prepared to enter and complete post-secondary studies in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology. SECME does this with project-based learning and hands-on competitions with model rockets, mousetrap racecars, and robots.

Earth and Moon: Earth is shown with the Florida peninsula prominent and a star to mark the location of Seminole Ridge High School in Loxahatchee. The rocket is seen en route to the Moon, targeted for the lunar outpost. Above the horizon of the Earth, along the body of the rocket, and along the rim of the Moon’s limb is written the 2011-2012 Olympiad theme “SECME: Plan It – Build It – Live It!” This symbolically represents in order: planet (“plan it”), manmade object (“build it), moonbase (“live it”).

Never met a scientific illustrator? Meet Carol.

Image of the Week #20, December 5th, 2011:


Original source: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 1992 cover illustration of the reconstruction of the skull of Stegosaurus stenops in left lateral view. Ink on paper, by Carol Abraczinskas.

Never met a scientific illustrator? Meet Carol.
by Kalliopi Monoyios at Symbiartic.

Stipple is a pen and ink technique used in scientific illustration that utilizes millions of tiny dots to create areas of shadow and light. This stipple drawing of the skull of Stegosaurus stenops by Carol Abraczinskas appeared on the cover of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology in 1992. It’s a favorite teaching tool of Abraczinskas’s because it tests students’ observational skills. One missing dot prevents this illustration from being complete. Can you find it? To check if you got it right, see the original post for an enlarged view of that detail.

Seminole SECME wins silver

2nd place overall Olympiads in the district!
Seminole Ridge SECME won four trophies at the 2011 SECME regional Olympiad, including second place overall for the county! Teams from twenty high schools in Palm Beach County participated in the engineering contests at Santaluces Community High School in Lantana on Saturday, February 26, 2011. Students squared off in racing mousetrap powered model cars, launch model rockets, build and break balsa wood bridges; in general knowledge games during the "Brain Bowl"; and in literary and artistic competitions with essays, banners, and posters.

The competition of cogitators was fierce, but the Hawks, those gladiators of grey matter, came in third in the poster competition, second in the water bottle rocket competition, and first in the banner competition. This put overall Olympiad performance second in the entire district! Principal Lynne McGee, and Erich Landstrom and Ed Batchelor, the school SECME coordinators, congratulate the Hawks on their awesome achievements! Team captain Cindy Dosch commented “Proud of you guys! We did awesome against all odds.” Freshman Sam Smith posted “Today, those months of work on that mousetrap car came into fruition, and the hard work showed. It destroyed the competition without a problem, and couldn’t have done better on the test run. Even though it didn’t place, and we have our suspicions as to why it didn’t, I’m proud of Murphy’s Law, because it has overcome every one of the obstacles it was presented with.”

2011 Seminole SECME Olympiad

POSTER: Students create posters based on the Olympiad's theme “SECME: STEMulating Minds”
• Third Place: Seminole Ridge

Poster, 3rd place: senior Brie Codner Poster, 3rd place: senior Brie Codner

BANNER: Students create banners based on the Olympiad's theme. Banners must contain the school mascot and SECME logo.
• First Place: Seminole Ridge

WATER ROCKET: Students build a model rocket around a standard 2 liter soda bottle. All teams must have: rocket (constructed and launch-ready); design drawing blueprint of rocket; technical report on rocket; and mission patch design. At the Olympiad, rockets will be "fueled" with 355 milliliters of water and 60 PSI of air pressure. The rocket with the greatest combined "hang time" airborne and score will be declared the winner
• Second Place: Seminole Ridge

Water bottle rocket, 2nd place: Chris Garrett (retired rocket engineer with Pratt & Whitney) Damian Coleman, Cindy Dosch

Water bottle rocket, 2nd place: Damian Coleman, Cindy Dosch

OVERALL HIGH SCHOOL PALM BEACH COUNTY CHAMPION:

• Second Place: Seminole Ridge High

• First Place: Suncoast High Seminole SECME - 2nd place Olympiad overall in the county!

MOUSETRAP CAR: Students build cars that are propelled by the spring of a mousetrap. All teams must have a mousetrap car (constructed and running), design drawing blueprint of mousetrap vehicle (MTV), technical report on MTV construction and operations. A combination of the scores from the race, the report, and the drawing is used to determine the winner.
Mousetrap Vehicle: Sam Smith and Cody Summerlin

Inspecting the Mousetrap Vehicle: (left to right) Sam Smith, Cody Summerlin, Dr. Thelma Jackson, and AJ Fandrey

BRAIN BOWL: Students compete against the clock and each other in a quiz show style contest filled with science and math questions.
left to right: Arnold Banner, Joe Pavicic, Yiro Shimabukuro, Robert Botkin



SECME is too serious to be taken seriously
SECME is too serious to be taken seriously
Seminole SECME Captain Cindy Dosch holding aloft our trophy
GO HAWKS!

WBR Mission Patch

Thank you to senior Brianne Codner, artist extraordinaire, who created the fantastic mission patch for this year's water bottle rocket team.

You can see the patch in greater detail in the website banner. Here are the details on the details:

Water Bottle Rocket: In the middle of the patch is a model rocket, launched by compressed air and water. The rocket is painted in our school’s colors of red and silver. On the body of the rocket is written “SRCHS HAWKS” for Seminole Ridge Community High School and our school’s mascot, the hawk, and it include a silhouette of a hawk’s head.

Brain: In the lower right corner is a human brain, with the brain stem merging with an entwined plant stem around the border. The brain depicts the mind of the SECME student. The brain is the seat of reason, responsible for learning, thinking, remembering, imagining and creating; all needed for success in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). But the mind is also responsible for emotions like friendship and positive attitude, which are needed for success in SECME and in life. Emerging from the brain is a SECME-style water bottle rocket.

SECME cyclone: In the upper right corner is the symbol of SECME, Inc. The mission of SECME is to increase the pool of historically under-represented, under-served, and differently-abled students prepared to enter and complete post-secondary studies in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology. SECME does this with hands-on project-based learning to build and test balsawood bridges, mousetrap spring powered race cars, and model rockets.

Aquila: In the center left of the patch is the constellation of Aquila. Its name is Latin for “eagle.”Aquila represents the Seminole Ridge High mascot, the hawk. Altair is the brightest star in the constellation of Aquila and one of the closest stars visible to the naked eye. Altair is located 16.8 light years away. This means for a 16 year old high school student in SECME, that the light from Altair that a student today actually left the star around when the student was born, and has taken the student’s entire lifetime to reach Earth and stimulate our eyes.

Patch Border: Around the golden border of the patch is written this year’s theme of “SECME: STEMulating MINDS.” The border also features the silhouette of a hawk head, as the hawk is the mascot for our school.

Plant Stem on Patch Border: Entwined around the golden board is a green plant leafy stem, on which is carved “Seminole Ridge CHS.” Plant stems have four main functions which are:
- to transport water up against gravity between the roots and the shoots in the xylem and phloem, an example of SCIENCE.
- to produce new living tissue, just as in TECHNOLOGY manufacturing is a key consideration.
- to keep the leaves in the light and provide a place for the plant to keep its flowers and fruits, an example of biological ENGINEERING.
- to store nutrients, just as in MATHEMATICS numbers and symbols store arithmetic information.

Mission Patch Explorers Games

Just to start brainstorming about the water bottle rocket mission patch.

Click on the different parts of the mission patches to learn about the mission and the crew. The items on NASA's mission patches have a lot of meaning. Use the interactive features to learn about them.

Seminole SECME wins silver!

Seminole SECME won five trophies in the 2010 Palm Beach SECME regional Olympiad! We were awarded the 3rd place trophy, mousetrap car competition + 2nd place trophy, banner competition + 2nd place trophy, poster competition + 2nd place trophy, brain bowl competition =
2nd place overall Olympiads in the district!

Dr. Lynee McGee, principal of Seminole Ridge High School, and Erich Landstrom and Ed Batchelor, school SECME coordiators, are soaring on the Hawks awesome achievements!

Seminole Ridge SECME at the 2010 engineering Olympiad for the School District of Palm Beach County

Football practice
The object of VEX Clean Sweep is to attain a higher score than your opponent's alliance by moving as many balls as possible onto their side of the field and by "locking up" small balls in the triangular goals.
VEX Robotics
Students, with guidance from their teachers and mentors aim to build the most innovative robots possible and work together to obtain the most points possible. In addition to just having a great time and building amazing robots, through their participation in the VEX Robotics Competition and their work within their team, students learn many academic and life skills.

POSTER: Students create posters based on the Olympiad's theme.
• Third Place: Forest Hill
• Second Place: Seminole Ridge
• First Place: Suncoast
Senior Shelby Weininger with poster

Poster, 2nd place: Cindy Dosch (left) and Shelby Weininger (right)

MOUSETRAP CAR: Students build cars that are propelled by the spring of a mousetrap. All teams must have a mousetrap car (constructed and running), design drawing blueprint of mousetrap vehicle (MTV), technical report on MTV construction and operations. A combination of the scores from the race, the report, and the drawing is used to determine the winner.
• Third Place: Seminole Ridge - Silver
• Second Place: Boca Raton – Roaring Cats
• First Place: Suncoast – Exponential Engineers

Juniors AJ Fandrey (left) and Ryan Hamilton (right) in MTV competition

Junior Ryan Hamilton

Junior AJ Fandrey in MTV competition

WATER ROCKET: Students build a model rocket around a standard 2 liter soda bottle. All teams must have: rocket (constructed and launch-ready); design drawing blueprint of rocket; technical report on rocket; and mission patch design. At the Olympiad, rockets will be "fueled" with 355 milliliters of water and 60 PSI of air pressure. The rocket with the greatest combined "hang time" airborne and score will be declared the winner.
Seniors Carlos Monesar and Kate Woodbury with Mr. Chris Garrett from Pratt Whitney Rocketdyne

Juniors Brian Bartles and Cindy Dosch with Mr. Chris Garrett from Pratt Whitney Rocketdyne

BRAIN BOWL: Students compete against the clock and each other in a quiz show style contest filled with science and math questions.
• Third Place: Suncoast
• Second Place: Seminole Ridge
• First Place: Royal Palm Beach

SECME Olympiad - brain bowl Ralph Regis, Zack Wiggin, Daniel Lowenthal, Robert Botkin


Brain bowl 2nd place: Ralph Regis, Zack Wiggin, Daniel Lowenthal

Seminole SECME's five trophies from the 2010 Olympiad

Seminole SECME - 2nd place Olypiad overall in the county!

GO HAWKS!

Make Your Own Mission Patch with IMAX Hubble 3D

Just to start brainstorming about the water bottle rocket mission patch

SECME submissions: Mission Patch

Seminole SECME Rocketry Team Silver Mission Patch & Statement
excerpt
by Linh Pham, Angie Adjei, and Cindy Dosch

"Within the flame is our “growing mind” that we cultivate using the soil of SECME as our education. SECME serves as our source of knowledge; it enables us to take our potential that much farther. All around our growing mind are things that S.T.E.M. stands for: science, technology, engineering, math. The chemical is being used as nutrients for our growing minds and science. The science nurtures us and makes our mind grow. It makes us question and solve the world around us…. The water bottle rocket symbolizes engineering. It flying off stands for how we project our ideas and how far it will take us in life. It also represents how we project our ideas and how far it will take us in life…. The mission patch reflects on what we stand for in SECME and what our expectations are, to soar and reach new heights"