We thought MESA was wonderful!! Not only was it great exposure to math, science, etc., but it stressed application to real life. Tamara would frequently try to correlate what she learned to other areas after a MESA encounter. Tamara never enjoyed math, and it's still not her favorite subject, but at least now she says "it's not too bad" and she understands why it's important to understandit.
Additionally, she was always excited to go to MESA and learn--I never had to push her. Despite the wonderful middle school teachers she has been lucky enough to have, there are days when Tamara doesn't want to go to school. I think she's bored with the curriculum at times and the constraints of middle school. MESA helped her stay excited, and in fact I was considering transfer to a private school prior to implementation of the MESA program. I don't want my kid who was always so enthusiastic about everything new to be stifled, bored, and unhappy. MESA really helped her to stay engaged this year.
Another thing I really liked was that the students were given responsibility and not treated like juvenile delinquents. I realize this is a strong statement with some implied criticism. I fully understand why there are so many constraints in middle school, but on the other hand I very much appreciated the fact that in MESA the students were treated as mature developing individuals.
I also want to point out how hard it is for girls to show they are smart. MESA was a safe outlet for not only intellectual growth but also allowed Tamara to show leadership skills. We are so grateful to the MESA volunteers for their leadership and hard work, and especially for the encouragement of my child!!!!
---Lynn Fernandez, parent, Lyons Middle School
Good morning, Gloria and Karen.
I thought I'd give you a quick update and anecdote about our MESA program at Loma Linda Elementary this semester. Lauren Gunderson, our new Outreach Coordinator, has organized an incredible program this semester. We're working with 28 5th graders. As usual, our success is thanks to dedicated teachers who are leading Loma Linda MESA and our great undergraduate students who are having more fun than the 5th graders. We had our rocket fuel experimentation day yesterday and we finally perfected the module! I had a particularly touching sentiment said to me by one of the students and I thought you might like to hear the impact your hard work is having on these students.
... I worked with a group of 4 girls yesterday during this activity (Alka Selzer rockets). As we discussed their graphs and talked about which fuel worked most efficiently, one of the girls noted that she thought the final test they did went the highest, not only because of the heat of the water and the crushed tablet, but because our rocket had fallen off the film canister, so we just launched a film canister by itself. She said she thought that the missing rocket made the canister lighter, so that was one reason it went higher. I assured her that she was right and congratulated her on noting that in her data report. She got very quiet as if she were considering something and then looked at me and said very seriously, "I didn't know my brain worked." She broke into a huge grin - very pleased with herself and her experiments.
At Space Grant, we work with K-12 kids in the hopes of encouraging them to consider science and engineering as a possible future. It was clear to me after yesterday, that we are doing something more than that in our collaboration with MESA. For some, we are encouraging them to simply see themselves as thinkers, as learners. Karen has said it to us before and I believed her, but the student's words yesterday made this fact that much clearer for me.
Thanks for all the time and effort you put into MESA. Your program has made our programming better and better. Have a great day.
---Bernadette Garcia, Associate Director Education/Public Outreach and Administration Colorado
Space Grant Consortium
520 UCB Discovery Learning Center
Room 270 Boulder, CO 80309
303-492-3141 (phone)