MESA's unique mission is to encourage, motivate, support and prepare students for success in the pursuit of undergraduate degrees and careers in mathematics, engineering, science and technology. MESA serves all students but has a particular interest and focus on students from groups that are historically underrepresented in science, engineering, and other math based careers. MESA students in elementary, middle and high schools prepare for and explore these professions through collaborative projects focused on building math, science, technology and communication skills.
La misión principál de MESA es animar, motivar, apoyar y preparar estudiantes para el éxito en la búsqueda de titulos universitarios y vocación en matemáticas, ingenieria, ciencias y tecnologia. MESA sirve a todos los estudiantes pero tiene un interés particular y se enfoca en estudiantes de grupos que son históricamente poco representados en ciencias, ingenieria y otras bases vocacionales de las matemáticas. Los estudiantes de MESA en escuelas primarias, intermedias y secundarias se preparan para explorar esas profesiones a travéz de proyectos colaboradores enfocados en construir matemática cientifica, technologiá y capacidad de comunicación.
Helen Douglass Receives Amgen Award for Science Teaching Excellence!
An unsuspecting Helen Douglass, Centennial Elementary MESA Teacher and Science Coach, was overwhelmed with surprise when Amgen representatives, Jessica Graziano, Diana Sherman-Palmer, and Ed Fitzgerald appeared at Centennial to present her with the prestigious Amgen Award for Science Teaching Excellence. Helen was one of four Colorado teachers selected from a pool of 60 candidates to receive the award. Helen's parents, Nadine and George Douglass, Centennial staff and students, School Board members, and District administrators were among the crowd that cheered as she accepted the award. Centennial Elementary is the first school in the country to be called "A Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) School.
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Frederick High MESA Wins FIRST Tech Challenge and Goes Global!
On Saturday, February 14, 2009 Frederick High School's Mathematics, Engineering and Science Achievement (MESA) after-school program accomplished an amazing feat! They won the Western Regional FIRST Tech Challenge. As a result, seven Frederick High MESA students and their advisor, Julie Constantine, will be on their way to compete in the FIRST Tech Challenge at the US FIRST World Championship! The Frederick High MESA team will compete against teams from eight other countries including Canada, Mexico, Chili, Brazil, India, Norway, Holland, and Singapore at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, April 16-18, 2009.
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Heritage Middle MESA Program Works to Help the Environment!
On November 22, MESA advisor Janet Benter and MESA Environmental Club students enjoyed a peaceful afternoon at Rabbit Mountain collecting seeds of Winterfat, a sub-shrub that is a superior winter browse for wildlife such as deer, elk, rodents, rabbits and bighorn sheep. The seeds collected will be replanted in January at a nearby reclamation area. This project is significant because, when purchased, this seed costs about $45 per LPS (live pound of seed, or about three pounds of collected seed). Matt Bruce, Boulder County Parks and Open Space, said that he was very impressed with MESA students' work ethic, behavior, and great attitudes.
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Longmont High MESA Scores High Points in Fall Fling Boat Building Contest!
Longmont High School MESA students demonstrated their engineering and teamwork skills during the Fall Fling Boat Building Contest by winning 4th place (out of 24 schools). Co-sponsored by Colorado MESA and CU Boulder Multicultural Engineering Program (MEP), this two-day event brought over 250 high school students from nearly 30 Colorado high schools around the state to the University of Colorado at Boulder campus on November 6th and 7th, 2008. MESA teams competed in two separate engineering team challenges: the 2008-09 MESA USA National Multi-Task Trebuchet Design Challenge and a Boat Building Design Challenge.
Join St. Vrain MESA in congratulating MESA advisor, Chris Chou and her MESA students Melissa Bushey, Tamara Lhungay, Melissa Pinkerton, Doug Thalacker, Larkin Poynton, Margaret Fox, Brie Braach, Megan Echols, Carl Vitale, Shawn Tylor for their excellent achievement and for representing MESA and Longmont High School well.
St. Vrain MESA Students Shine at STEMapalooza!
The first annual STEMapalooza was held October on October 24 and 25 at the Denver Convention Center. The purpose of the event was to bring constituents together to better appreciate and understand how each contributes, develops and establishes continuing relationships among stakeholders, engages policy makers and the media, spotlights the successes, and creates an atmosphere of shared responsibility. The audience for the event included: business and industry, formal educators at all levels, parents, government agencies, informal educators, chambers of commerce, non-profit coalitions, and others.
MESA Students from Casa de la Esperanza welcomed STEMapalooza organizers and other STEM dignitaries at a kick-off banquet held at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science on October 23. They demonstrated their robots, answered questions about MESA, and handed out St. Vrain MESA brochures.
Colorado MESA's booth hosted MESA programs from around the state including St. Vrain MESA students from Centennial Elementary, Trail Ridge, and Frederick High entertained the crowd by engaging them in hands-on activities.
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St. Vrain MESA Goes Green!
"Living Green" will be a main theme for the 2008-2009 school year. MESA students will participate in projects focusing on renewable energy, sustainable development, ecology, and other related topics. Skyline and Frederick High MESA programs will continue with their electric vehicle design and build project and the focus of "Science is Everywhere" is alternative energy. Colorado MESA is promoting a wind turbine design and build project that will become part of MESA USA's annual competition for 2009. Eco-Cycle, the Longmont Conservation District, Thorne Ecological, and Frederick High portable green house project will also feature environmental themes. Let us know if you have other programs or projects that support this year's theme!
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St. Vrain MESA Advisor Project Fair Highlights Education Outreach Partners!
On September 11, the Summit Retreat at Xilinx was abuzz with education outreach partners as St. Vrain MESA advisors visited a variety of displays. Twenty-three partners including Fiske Planetarium, the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Eco-Cycle, and Thorne Ecological presented their education programs. Live animals from the Zoo and Aerie Nature series particularly piqued interest. As a result of the Fair, more than 60 programs were scheduled for MESA students at 19 district schools, Head Start MESA and Casa Esperanza MESA. Thanks to our amazing MESA advisors, MESA partners, and Amgen Mini-grants, St. Vrain students will enjoy a year filled with enrichment activities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) activities.
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Casa MESA Boosts Participation in FIRST Robotics Projects and Continues Physics Project!
LEGO parts and pieces are eagerly put in place by Casa MESA students as they create robots for the Junior FIRST LEGO League and FIRST LEGO League projects. Jr. FLL is for 8 and 9 year olds and FLL is for 10-13 year olds. Due to the popularity of FLL, Casa will have two teams this year.
Interest in robotics began three years ago big brothers and sisters from the high school Casa MESA FIRST Robotics team began competing in FIRST Robotics projects. This year's team will begin designing and building their robot in January, 2009.
Robots aren't the only story at Casa. The Community (PISEC) Junior Scientist League from JILA is continuing with the Physics Project that was begun last summer at Casa. Details may be found below under the JILA NSF Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics Frontier Center story.
Centennial Elementary First in US to have
MESA for Every Student!
The newly opened Centennial Elementary School in the St. Vrain Valley School Distict is considered a MESA School! During the second week of school, over 400 K-5 students participated in hands-on activities in the MESA lab. Helen Douglass, MESA teacher, reflects on her experience with kindergarten students as she guided them through a "mystery object" inquiry activity.
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Frontiers of Science Institute
Frederick High MESA student, Linda Palacios participated in the six week long Frontiers of Science Institute at the University of Northern Colorado in July. With the assistance of her two UNC mentors, Linda designed and built a solar powered robot. Linda said her experience was enhanced by working with her mentors, learning more about technology, gaining content knowledge in math and science as well as learning the technical writing skills needed to produce a scientific paper gave her more confidence in her abilities as a learner. St. Vrain MESA thanks Lori Ball, Program Administrator; Zach Armstrong, Casey Kuhns, and Adam Wilson, UNC Mentors, and The Rollie R. Kelley Family Foundation for supporting Linda. For more information about Frontiers of Science Institute, visit their
website.
St. Vrain MESA thanks Drs. Laurel Mayhew and Noah Finkelstein from JILA and CU students, Jessica Bartley and Heather Bankowski, for making this summer opportunity possible!
The JILA NSF Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics Frontier Center sponsors after school and summer programs for under represented K-12 students as part of the Partnerships for Informal Science Education in the Community (PISEC) Junior Scientist League. PISEC collaborates with the Physics Education Research group in the University of Colorado Department of Physics to assess the students' content understanding, attitudes about science and the nature of science, and desire to pursue science or math careers. In addition, we are interested in using new technologies such as stop action motion movies and simulations to engage students and facilitate learning, especially for ESL students who will be able to show us what they know instead of only writing on a worksheet. This summer, we held a 4 week summer camp for middle school students (grades 5-8) at Casa de la Esperanza in Longmont, CO on the topic of states of matter. The content learning goals of the camp included identifying solids, liquids, and gases, and be able to understand the particle nature of different states of matter. For example, we wanted the students to understand that in general solids have a higher density and stronger particle interaction than liquids or gases, and that when a substance changes phase, the same number of particles are present, they just behave differently. We found that most students were initially able to tell the difference between solids, liquids, and gases, but few had a sense of the particle nature, and a few would choose science or math as a career. After the camp, most students were able to demonstrate the particle nature of solids, liquids, and gases, and several more students said they would choose science or math as a career. We are very proud of the students from Casa de la Esperanza and look forward to working with them again this school year!
Skyline High MESA and Frederick High MESA Students Participate in an Electric Vehicle Competition!
Five cars competed in an electric vehicle competition held at the Front Range Community College Campus on May 11. Entries in the event were from MESA teams at Skyline and Frederick High, Front Range Community College, and a vehicle designed by a professional engineer. CU Boulder's Multicultural Engineering Program mentors, Josh McDaniel and Carlos Silva, assisted the Skyline team. Ken Jones, MESA advisor Julie Constantine, and others guided the Frederick MESA team. The Skyline MESA vehicle placed Second! Students, mentors, advisors, and parents all agreed that building the vehicles was an important learning experience. Perhaps one of our St. Vrain MESA students will be on a design team for a future electric car! See more photos....
St. Vrain MESA Students and Programs Earn Honors at the Colorado MESA Annual Awards Banquet!
Maria Gonzalez Saldana, 4th grade Rocky Mt. Elementary student, Esteban Gonzalez, 9th grade Casa MESA student, and Emelin Miller, 12th grade Longmont High student, were recognized as Outstanding MESA Students by Colorado MESA at this year's Awards Banquet in May.
Trail Ridge Middle School MESA and advisors, Liz Sims and Josh Goldstein received an Outstanding MESA Program award. Trail Ridge has over 75 active students that engaged in a host of MESA projects including a special "Girls Night Out" program that connected MESA girls with female engineering students from CU at Boulder. Rocky Mountain Elementary and Frederick High received Honorable Mention awards as outstanding programs.
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Lyons Middle School MESA Flies High!!
Lyons middle school students participating in the Mathematics, Engineering and Science Achievement (MESA) program visited Skyventure in Denver on Saturday, March 15. Skyventure is an indoor skydiving facility that uses a vertical wind tunnel and certified instructors to simulate a relatively safe skydiving experience. Thirty-two students and several parents participated in the activity. Each participant went through a brief training session with a certified instructor, who then accompanied them into the wind tunnel for two minutes of flight time.
Casa MESA Team Brings Home Outstanding Teamwork Award and Qualifies for the Colorado FIRST LEGO League Championship Event!
A team of enthusiastic middle school MESA students from Casa de la Esperanza competed in the 2007 Boulder FIRST LEGO League Qualifier Tournament at the University of Colorado at Boulder on Saturday, November 17. The rookie team prepared for the Qualifier by designing and building robots that pushed miniature wind turbines or performed other tasks related to renewable energy. They were expertly guided by MESA advisor, Michael Lozano, and retired IBM engineer, Wayne Bauer. The team was rewarded for their efforts by receiving a trophy for the "FIRST LEGO League Challenge Outstanding Teamwork Award Boulder FLL Qualifier 2007". The team will advance to the Colorado FIRST LEGO League Championship Event at the Auraria Event Center on December 15. Join us for the Championship Event and cheer for the Casa MESA FIRST LEGO team!
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This year the FIRST LEGO League Power Puzzle focus was "Global Resources-Meeting the World Demand". Students explored how energy production and consumption choices affect the planet and our quality of life today, tomorrow, and for future generations. They investigated how our personal energy choices to heat our homes, fuel our cars, charge our cell phones, power our computers, or even download music to our iPods impact the environment, economy, and life around the globe. Click "Play" below it view a short video.
