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September 22, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Congrats to fellow National Consortium of Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science, and Technology peer institutions Brooklyn Technical High School and the California Academy of Mathematics and Science on their recognition as 2011 Intel Schools of Distinction.
August 29, 2011 | Academics, News, People, Research, Students, Summer | No Comments
by Michael Crocker, Academy Avatar
This summer three Gatton Academy students were given the opportunity to attend and participate in the 2011 National Youth Policy Summit.
Seniors Rachel Metcalfe, Samantha McKean, and Melanie Hurst spent one week in Keystone, Colorado where McKean says they “worked together to create a blueprint for a solution to the current energy crisis.”
Students were selected based on their answer to an essay. Hurst says that before the program began a great amount of effort was put into research and idea development. “We had to research an energy topic as well as a stakeholder to represent at the conference,” she said. At the summit, Hurst noted she worked with 35 students and 3-4 main instructors in the topic area. She also worked with the representatives of the stakeholder companies.
McKean says that at the conference around 40 students from a variety of National Consortium of Specialized Secondary Schools of Math, Science, and Technology schools each were assigned a different company that had to do with energy. The group eventually completed an 80 page policy recommendation booklet.
The group loved the Colorado setting of the conference. The mountain landscape in which students studied was equally enjoyable to their research. “Colorado [was] beautiful,” according to Hurst. “We were at 10,000-12,000 feet the entire trip and was right up there with mountains.” Although she said it was cold, she enjoyed being able to “say we threw snowballs in June.”
Metcalfe said her favorite part of the trip was a late evening hike where they got to see the sunset over the mountains to the west. McKean added that “the mountains were a really nice reminder of what we were working toward, which is a cleaner, healthier environment.”
Because all three Aacademy students were assigned a different company and had different experiences they all took away different lessons.
Hurst found that the real-world applications of the program expanded just beyond content knowledge. “The most important thing I learned was how to compromise and negotiate so that everyone wins a little in the end,” she said.
McKean talked more about how much she learned about energy and how it relates to the economy. “I learned a lot about how different parts of the economy would suffer if we completely just dropped oil, which is a major reason why we haven’t yet.”
Metcalfe found having to take a side in the debate to be very enlightening. “I gained so much more knowledge about all the aspects of our national energy dependency, especially from interesting perspectives.”
June 6, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments
by Rachel Metcalfe, Academy Avatar
For six rising seniors at the Academy, the beginning of their summer started with a bang.
Shortly after the conclusion of their junior years, they traveled to Annapolis, Maryland, for research presentations at the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Math, Science, and Technology (NCSSSMST) Student Research Conference. These students prepared and presented research, while also enjoying the sights of the beautiful Naval Academy campus.
For Sammi Hawtrey, a senior from Boone County, the conference provided another opportunity to share her findings from work accomplished during her junior year. “I wanted to attend to have another opportunity to present my research and also hear about the other research that students similar to myself have been doing all over the country,” she said.
114 students were in attendance presenting on a variety of topics, ranging from nanoparticles to rugby to sound waves. A combination of oral and poster presentations took place over two days during the conference. The six Gatton attendants were evenly split between the two presentation formats. Participants Andrea Eastes, Lori Lovell, and Sammi Hawtrey all reported on their genome research that they had completed over the previous two semesters at the academy. Jack Ferguson showed off his chemistry expertise, while Ben Rice presented his physics research and Nick Zolman informed the others about his astronomy breakthroughs.
When they weren’t presenting, students took yard tours of midshipmen training boats, visited the Naval Academy Museum, and mingled with all the other students at the conference from 24 participating member consortium schools. The students also played recreational sports with the midshipmen and learned from them how life at sea works. Additionally, students were able to partake in a laser light session with a Naval Academy professor, studying how light passes through different objects. The experience was an excellent way for the students to see the academy as a possible college option as well.
Although there were lots of neat experiences, attendee Nick Zolman decided that his favorite part was when the head of the conference approached him after he had presented to discuss his research. “He was really interested in my study about supernovae in the CANDELS Hubble Space Telescope and wanted to learn more,” he said.
Hawtrey fondly listed her time on the Yard Patrol boat as the most memorable part of the conference. “I loved seeing the living quarters and engine room. The captain even let me drive,” she added.
The research conference was a success for the Gatton Academy students. Hopefully more will continue to present their findings at conferences like these, and gain not only research experience, but also academic advancement from the other students and their presentations.
Student presentations at the conference included: