Drop It, Build It, Fly It, Launch It, Thrill It— Saturday, May 5

Drop It, Build It, Fly It, Launch It, Thrill It

Di-Bi-Fi-Li-Ti is a design competition for cash prizes challenges kids to build an unbreakable balsawood bridge, create the perfect carton to protect a raw egg from a 3-story drop, fold and fly the farthest-flung paper airplane, blast off the best water bottle rocket for max time airborne, and create a thrill-packed roller coaster. The Florida Engineering Society tests the skills of junior high and high school students at the South Florida Science Museum in West Palm Beach on Saturday, May 5, 2012 from 8 AM to 3:30 PM. Students compete for over $3,500 in prize money.
1. Drop It: Design and build a shipping container that will prevent an uncooked egg from breaking when dropped from two successive heights, up to 50 feet.
2. Build It: Given a range of physical dimensions and using appropriate building materials, construct the lightest truss-frame bridge capable of supporting the greatest weight.
3. Fly It: Given a sheet of paper, design an airplane that will fly the longest distance.
4. Launch It: Construct a rocket propelled by “fuel” (12 ounces of water) and air compressed to 60 psi that will be launched at a predetermined angle to reach the maximum height and flight time possible.
5. Thrill It: Design a roller coaster to convey a marble or steel ball within designated parameters, so that it stays rolling the longest, is the most interesting to view and has a theme.

Students are responsible for their own transportation to and from the event.

More information is available online at http://www.sfsm.org/

SECME Awards Banquet on Sun., May 6, 2012

The Annual SECME Celebration of Achievement Awards will take place on Sunday, May 6, 2012 from 1:00 pm – 4:30 pm at the Boca Raton Marriott at Boca
Center (click here for directions). This gala event honors this year’s Achievement Award recipients and celebrates the past year’s accomplishments. It includes student and coordinator awards, SECME Scholarship Awards, and a very dynamic guest speaker. It is not too late to get your reservations in for this great event. Price is $30.00 per person and make checks out to FAU SECME Foundation and mail it to Hazen and Sawyer, 7th Floor, North Tower, 4000 Hollywood Blvd. Hollywood, Fl. 33021

The following Seminole SECME participants are nominated for exceptional performance:
• SECME Student of the Year: Caitlin Miller
• Outstanding Student of the Year: Sam Smith

FAU AWARDS $12K SCHOLARSHIP TO SEMINOLE RIDGE SECME STUDENT

Florida Atlantic University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science will award a four-year SECME scholarship worth $12,000 to senior Caitlin Miller. Miller will be honored on Sunday, May 6, 2012 at SECME’s annual Celebration of Achievement banquet sponsored by industry partners that includes students, parents, teachers, school administrators, industry representatives and guest speaker.
Captian Caitlin Miller and Mother Miller
Seminole Ridge SECME coordinator and physics teacher Erich Landstrom said, “Caitlin truly belongs to what anthologist Margaret Mead once described as that small group of thoughtful, committed citizens who we should never doubt can change the world. Under her leadership, the Hawks soared high, taking home six trophies and ribbons at the annual engineering Olympiad. Caitlin helped me grow the school’s SECME program in very important ways. For example, this past November Caitlin lead our participation in “Engineering Family Fun Day,” a free annual event in Dreher Park that the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) hosts for Palm Beach County students. Caitlin also assists younger students. When students from Seminole Ridge volunteered to mentor the SECME program at Pierce Hammock Elementary School, Caitlin was the first to arrive and help their teams to build water rockets. Another instance of Caitlin bringing out the best was the “Let’s Build Something Together” challenge during February’s SECME Olympiad for elementary schools. She volunteered herself and her friends to give up a Saturday and to help with the “Gotta Regatta,” where students had to build a model boat and race them a filled rain gutter. Caitlin organized the activity so that nearly seven hundred students from 51 schools could see who had the fastest ferry.”

SECME students selected for the 2012-13 academic-year award receive a renewable $3,000 per year. Students must meet the academic requirements for admission into FAU and have participated in the SECME program in their high school. Applicants must major in Engineering, Mathematics, or Science, achieve a minimum score of 1450 (all three sections) on the SAT or a 21 on the ACT.

Brenda Simmons, director of FAU’s Division of Engineering Student Services, serves as the SECME director for FAU and chairs the SECME Industry Advisory Board. “It is very rewarding for me to work with the South Florida Industry Partners for Education, Broward County and Palm Beach Public Schools to increase the pool of talented students prepared to enter and succeed in science, technology, engineering and mathematics,” said Simmons. “The SECME program offers exceptional opportunities for K-12 students to learn, achieve, and become excited about engineering and science based careers.”

SECME is a pre-collegiate program whose mission is to increase the number of under-represented minority students qualified to enter and complete courses of study in the STEM disciplines. Since its inception in 1975, the SECME program has helped to increase the number of minority engineers, scientists and mathematicians by enriching students’ academic preparation from grades K-12 while providing experiences to help raise their levels of aspiration. Teacher training is a significant piece of the equation in order for the program to succeed. It is a coordinated effort with 37 universities, 70 corporations and governmental agencies in 15 states, as well as the District of Columbia. FAU became an official SECME university during the 1986-87 academic year.

Florida Atlantic University 's College of Engineering and Computer Science is committed to providing accessible and responsive programs of education and research recognized nationally for their high quality. Course offerings are presented on-campus, off-campus, and through distance learning in bioengineering, civil engineering, computer engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, geomatics engineering, mechanical engineering and ocean engineering. For more information about the college, please visit www.eng.fau.edu .

Pass Judgement!

A reminder that tomorrow's SECME meeting is at Pierce Hammock Elementary School (14255 Hamlin Blvd. Loxahatchee, FL 33470) to help judge their science fair. Students are responsible for their own transportation.

Symphony of Science - Dinosaurs!!

The Symphony of Science is a musical project by John Boswell designed to deliver scientific knowledge and philosophy in musical form.



A musical celebration of dinosaurs! "The World of the Dinosaurs" is the 14th installment in the Symphony of Science series; it investigates their habits, extinction, and how we learn about them. Featuring Alice Roberts, Bill Nye, Nigel Marvin, Dallas Campbell and more. Materials used in the creation of this video are from:

Dinosaurs Alive

BBC "How to Build a Dinosaur"

BBC "Extinct: A Horizon Guide to Dinosaurs"

Bill Nye - Dinosaurs

Prehistoric Park

Discovery Channel "Last Day of the Dinosaurs"

Jurassic Park

Jack Horner's 2011 TED Talk

Symphony of Science - The Greatest Show

The Symphony of Science is a musical project by John Boswell designed to deliver scientific knowledge and philosophy in musical form.



A musical celebration of the wonders of biology, including evolution, natural selection, DNA, and more. Featuring David Attenborough, Richard Dawkins and Bill Nye. "The Greatest Show on Earth" is the 13th video in the Symphony of Science music videos series. Materials used in this video are from:

Richard Dawkins' "There is grandeur in this view of life" speech

BBC Life

BBC Planet Earth

David Attenborough's First Life

Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life

Bill Nye Evolution episode

SECME Announces 2012 Master Teacher Mentors

Eleven outstanding educators from across the country asked to lead SECME initiatives.
For over thirty years a major focus of SECME, Inc. (a national nonprofit formerly the Southeastern Consortium of Minorities in Engineering) has been teacher professional development focused on K-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). SECME’s capstone event for the professional renewal and revitalization is the Annual Summer Institute, hosted each year by one of its 42 member engineering universities. This year the 36th Annual SECME Summer Institute will be hosted by The University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa, June 24-July 1. This intense eight-day residential professional development opportunity, presented by member university faculty, partner industry and government experts, and SECME Master Teachers, provides educators with curriculum activities aligned to National Standards, cutting-edge content knowledge, and a framework for implementing a SECME program.

The following eleven educators are significant members of SECME’s cadre of teachers with a strong tradition of leadership in SECME’s National Office Education Program Division. Because of their noteworthy contributions over the years, this group has been asked to accept additional responsibilities by serving on the SECME National Advisory Council and as SECME Summer Institute Master Teacher Mentors. The focus of the SECME Mentoring program is to enhance K-12 teaching and learning by leading Professional Learning Communities during the Summer Institute and then providing Institute participants with post-Institute support.

Anil Antony, Grand Bahama Catholic High School, Freeport, Grand Bahamas

Manuel Cox, American Senior High School, Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Florida

Lori Dunklin, DeVry Advantage Academy, Houston Independent School District, Texas

Karen Gant, Carol City Elementary School, Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Florida

Gwendolyn Maturo-Grasso, Lincoln Middle School, Syracuse City Schools, New York

Myra Jackson, Alabama Math, Science, and Technology Initiative (AMSTI), Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Erich Landstrom, Seminole Ridge Community High School, Palm Beach County Schools, Florida

Olga Peraza, Satellite High School, Brevard County Public Schools, Florida

Roy Shears, Hamilton High School, Memphis City School District, Tennessee

Judy Wall-Townsend, Midway Elementary School of the Arts, Seminole County Public Schools, Florida

Kim Worrell, O'Rouke Elementary School, Mobile County Public School System, Alabama

SECME was founded in 1975 by the Engineering Deans from seven Southeastern universities: Alabama, Florida, Georgia Tech, South Carolina, Tennessee, Tennessee State, and Tuskegee. Today SECME is a non-profit alliance that extends to 40 school systems, 39 major engineering universities, and industries and agencies in 15 states, the District of Columbia, and Grand Bahamas. SECME's mission is to increase the pool of historically under-represented and under-served students who will be prepared to enter and complete post-secondary studies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), thus creating a diverse and globally competitive workforce. SECME provides teacher professional development and coordinates student competitions across the country. Its National Headquarters is housed on the campus of The Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia.
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For more information on SECME please visit our Website: www.secme.org.

Palm Springs Middle And Suncoast High Continue To Stand Out In SECME Competitions

Students from 16 middle schools and 15 high schools participated in the 2012 Palm Beach County SECME Secondary Olympiad on February 25 at Santaluces High School. During the Olympiad, students participated in a variety of competitions which included mousetrap cars, water rockets, bridges, brain bowl, banners, essays, and posters. The theme for this year’s SECME program was “SECME: Plan It ٠ Build It ٠ Live It!”

“SECME is an excellent program that provides students with opportunities to apply hands-on problem solving techniques to real engineering challenges. They get to design, test, re-design, and re-test until they produce a working model – pretty much the same way engineers do their jobs,” said Bruce Wear, SECME District Coordinator.

The following schools were the overall district winners at the secondary level:

Honorable Mention: Don Estridge Middle School
Second Place (TIE): Bak Middle School of the Arts
Second Place (TIE): Eagles Landing Middle School
First Place: Palm Springs Middle School

Honorable Mention: John I. Leonard High School
Third Place: Seminole Ridge High School
Second Place: Royal Palm Beach High School
First Place: Suncoast High School

The following individual students, teams, and/or schools were the top winners in individual events:

ESSAY:
First Place: Eagles Landing Middle – Sarah Palumbo
First Place: Suncoast High – Lily Shrayfer

BANNER:
First Place: Bak Middle SOA
First Place: Seminole Ridge High

POSTER:
First Place: Loggers Run Middle – Ashley Ramirez
First Place: Jupiter High – Selena Harman

BRAIN BOWL:
First Place: Eagles Landing Middle
First Place: John I. Leonard High

WATER ROCKET:
First Place: Bak Middle SOA – Team Flyers
First Place: Suncoast High – Positively Charged

BRIDGE:
First Place: Don Estridge Middle – The Smarticle Dragons
First Place: Suncoast High – Positively Charged

MOUSETRAP CAR:
First Place: Palm Springs Middle – The A-Team
First Place: Suncoast High – Just Do It

Palm Springs Middle School and Suncoast High School will represent the school district at the SECME National Student Competition which will be held on June 26, 2012 at the University of Alabama. In addition, essays written by Sarah Palumbo from Eagles Landing Middle and Lily Shrayfer from Suncoast High will advance to the national competition.

This was the fifth overall win for Palm Springs Middle School and the eighth overall win for Suncoast High School.

According to Carol Marshall Smith, SECME Coordinator at Suncoast High School, “SECME is the bridge between academics and application. It teaches you to not become satisfied and to always strive for improvement.”

SECME (Science, Engineering, Communication, and Mathematics Enrichment) is a program that strives to increase the pool of students who will be prepared to enter and complete post-secondary studies in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This program reaches out to students who are historically under-represented in the STEM fields with the long-term goal of creating a more diverse workforce. The School District of Palm Beach County supports the goals and mission of SECME.

For more information, contact Bruce Wear, SECME District Coordinator, at (561) 357-1125 or bruce.wear@palmbeachschools.org.

SECME Announces 2012 Summer Institute Location and Date

SECME 2012 Annual Summer Institute
June 24 - July 1
hosted by The University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa!

sunday june 24
check-in for Summer Institute Experience: K-12 Professional Development through july 1

tuesday june 26
check-in for SECME National Competition Student Teams through june 29

wednesday june 27
check-in for STEM Pipeline Diversity Summit through july 1

thursday june 28
SECME National Student Competition Day and Celebration of Student Success!

friday june 29
Rock 'n Roll Tide Mixer and Dinner

saturday june 30
Summit Pipeline Keynote and Plenary and
Evening of Elegance Teacher of the Year Celebration

sunday july 1
all institute check-out

Ready on the S.E.T. and... ACTION!

Pauley Perrette (Actress, NCIS) promotes S.E.T. fields in this public service announcement

The Entertainment Industries Council, Inc. (EIC) through its Entertainment & Media Communication Institute (EMCI), has developed Ready on the S.E.T. and…Action! a program that is tackling one of the nation’s largest challenges: reviving American interest in science, engineering and technology (S.E.T.), especially among youth.

The impetus of this initiative is due to the American population’s lack of interest in the fields of science, engineering, and technology and the growing threat of a diminished workforce in these fields.

Through the Ready on the S.E.T. and…Action! Initiative, EIC will help science, engineering and technology experts to integrally collaborate with representatives from the entertainment and media field. Ultimately, the collaboration will reposition these crucial issues and supplement an innovative approach to reach a wider audience nationwide.

Specifically, the project will develop resource information for writers, producers, directors, broadcast and print journalists to utilize (within all types of national and local media) and strengthen how engineers and scientists are portrayed in entertainment media space.