On Tuesday, June 11th, about 35 Magnet students and staff took a break from prepping for finals and showed up at the Clark County Food Bank in Vancouver to engage in some community service. The team of freshmen through senior students and staff (as well as some parents, too!) worked together to sort and pack various dry good products for distribution to local partner agencies that will distribute the food. In just under two hours, we helped to sort and repack thousands of pounds of goods from an early May food drive that will help to feed Clark County in the upcoming months. Thank you, CCFB, for this opportunity to serve the people of Clark County on your behalf.
Jun 12
2019 Magnet Night of Service at CCFB
May 24
Magnet Night of Service at CCFB: 6/11/19
Magnetos, join us for a night of service on Tuesday, June 11th, from 5:15-7:30 PM, at the Clark County Food Bank. We need about 50 volunteers to work with teams of other Magnetos and staff to sort and/or repackage bulk donations for distribution to local families.
If you’d like to do this, sign up here: Magnet Night of Service at CCFB Sign Up To be clear, you’ll need to provide your own transportation, and you’ll also need to have your parent/guardian fill out the Volunteer Registration form that you will bring to the event. No form, no volunteering. Come on, Magnetos, let’s do this! See below for more info:
Arriving at CCFB
For travel options and directions to the facility, click here. Please arrive 5-10 minutes before your shift. Check in at the front desk when you arrive. If you are arriving after hours, please ring the doorbell at the main entrance. The volunteer orientation begins promptly at the scheduled start time. If you arrive late, please check in with a Volunteer Shift Leader for directions.
Safety Guidelines
- You will be turned away if you are wearing improper footwear as you will be working in the warehouse. Shoes must have closed toes and heels (no sandals, clogs, slippers or high heels).
- All new volunteers are required to complete a Volunteer Registration form. If you’ve previously volunteered here and have submitted a form, you’re fine.
- All volunteers are required to sign in and out on the Volunteer Service Log as a way to track volunteer hours.
- Parents and/or guardians are required to sign Volunteer Waiver forms for first-time volunteers under the age of 18 years.
- If you have cold symptoms or open wounds, please do not show up to volunteer.
- Temperatures in the volunteer areas can vary. Layers are recommended.
Check out the video of one of our past service nights at CCFB:
May 21
You’re Invited: MST Student Research Symposium
We’d like to cordially invite you to join us for the 12th annual Camas High School Magnet Program Student Research Symposium, on Wednesday, May 22nd, 2019, in the CHS commons and theater, from about 6-8pm.
At this event, students from grades 9-12 will present their research findings from this year’s study of a wide range of project topics, showcasing their hard work in the program and getting a chance to demo their findings in front of a live audience of peers and parents. In the second half of the evening, a few of these students will also make formal presentations of their work and MST experiences in the theater.
We look forward to seeing you at Camas High School on Wednesday, May 22nd, 2019. Please join us in celebrating their work!
May 20
MST Sr. Monica Chang Named 2019 Presidential Scholar!
Camas High School MST Magnet senior Monica Chang has been named as one of 161 U.S. Presidential Scholars for 2019. Read more here: https://www.camaspostrecord.com/news/2019/may/16/camas-high-senior-earns-national-honor/ …
Apr 14
Much Ado About Ashland 2019
Friends, Papermakers, Magnetos, lend me your ears! The CHS MST Magnet program will travel to Ashland, Oregon next September, 2019, to attend performances of Alice in Wonderland and Hairspray as well as participate in a workshop. We will miss all of Friday 09/20/19, leaving about 9:00 AM that day, TDB and finalized in the fall. As usual, we’ll stay at the Ashland Commons Youth Hostel and take over the entire establishment, with the guys in one area, the gals in another. We should be back to CHS by about 11 PM on Saturday night, 09/21. How much fun is this trip? In our exit interviews with graduating Magnet students, this experience is often cited as one of their favorite Magnet memories. So don’t miss out on this every other year opportunity to build community with us and see professional live theater in a spectacular setting.
This year we have slots for 50 students. A block of about 15 slots will be reserved for the incoming freshmen, with the rest of the slots going on a first-come-first-served basis to other interested Magnet students. The cost is $190/student, which covers transportation, lodging, two shows, and a Saturday morning workshop with OSF actors and staff. We do have need-based scholarships available. Contact Mr. Greene if you’d like to look into this. Payment can be made to the CHS ASB office by check or cash before school, during lunch, or after school. If you’re a current CHS student, you also have the option of paying for this online with a credit card (3.5% service fee): https://wa-camas.intouchreceipting.com/
After you’ve paid for and secured a spot, please download the Ashland Perm Slip and return it to Mr. Greene in room 710 at CHS or via email.
P.S. This trip usually sells out very quickly. If you miss out on getting a spot and would like your name added to our wait list, please email Mr. Greene to let him know ASAP. He will create a list of students (based on the order in which they notified him) who will be contacted in the fall if someone is unable to go on the trip.
Apr 10
Magnet Garb and Breakfast Signup
The MST ASB recently finalized the design for this year’s garments. Strictly optional, but if you wanted to order, here’s the link: Magnet Garb 2019. Also, we’ve scheduled a breakfast for 05/03/2019 (Fri.) from 7:15am – 8:30am PDT. Sign up to support this community builder event and kick off of the AP testing season here: Magnet Breakfast Sign Up
Mar 05
Magnetos Wow at Regional SEF
Camas High School MST students and others competed in the Southwest Washington Science and Engineering Fair this past weekend at Skyview High School in Vancouver, WA. They did very well! We’re still finalizing the details and exact titles of the awards, but here’s what we have so far (we will update as needed with corrections …).
- Rahul Ram (individual) and the team of Gareth Starratt and Julian McOmie (LiDAR) won Best in Fair and were awarded all-expense paid trips to the International SEF in Phoenix, AZ., May 12-17. Ram won first in Microbiology (the students thought), and Gareth and Julian won first in Robotics and Intelligent Machines.
- Andrew Kim won first in Environmental Engineering and Best in Category for his project looking at using mussels to filter out pharmaceuticals from marine environments. He will be competing at the state SEF at the end of this month.
- Alexis Williams, Amy Rude, and Megana Kommareddy won second in Environmental Engineering, a sustainability award, and the Women in STEM award. They will be competing at state as well.
- Jaden Le, Alex Gee, and Joey Stanley won third in Environmental Engineering and the Renewable Systems award. They will also be competing at state.
- Michael Lee, Ben Saunders, and Tyler Stanley won first in Engineering Mechanics, Best in Category, and were finalists for Best in Fair. They will be competing at state.
- Monica Chang won first in Biochemistry and the Naval Service Award.
- Tyler Gee won first in Systems Software, and a Navy award and Intel award in computer science (but he wasn’t sure about those titles).
Congratulations, Magnetos! See the full write up here: https://goo.gl/DRHcMx
Picture 1: Gareth Starratt, left, and Julian McOmie, right, of Camas High School, experimented with making a cheaper LIDAR scanner, the technology used in surveying equipment and self-driving cars. Photos by Steve Dipaola for The Columbian / Picture 2: Rahul Ram, right, of Camas High School, winner of last year’s SW Washington Science and Engineering Fair, explains this year’s project to judge September Nelson on Saturday at Skyview High School.
Feb 22
Micah’s Miles Volunteering Opportunity
CHS/MST junior and published author Mackenzie Snell emailed and asked for our help in spreading the word about a volunteering opportunity that would help benefit the nonprofit Micah’s Miles. See below for her message and an opportunity to sign up for this if you’d like.
“Micah’s Miles has teamed up with Why Racing (a running club in Vancouver)! They have offered for Micah’s Miles nonprofit to be the beneficiary of the Kids Race event on Friday, Aug. 16, 2019 IF we can fill 40 volunteer spot just for Friday night.
I am reaching out to everyone we know to see if you might be interested in volunteering to help a great cause!
It should be a lot of FUN! Here is the link if you are willing and able to volunteer. You are welcome to sign your spouse up and any friends that want to come with…We HAVE to have 40 volunteers in order to be the beneficiary of this event! When/if you do sign up, it will ask you if you are volunteering for a non profit, say YES and then write in Micah’s Miles.
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f044aadae2ca2fc1-11th1
Just a few important things for this:
- We must HAVE 40 volunteers
- We need ALL the volunteers to sign up for ONLY Friday
- The volunteers MUST say they are helping with the nonprofit “Micah’s Miles” when they sign up
- Sign up soon to make sure we get all the spots we need filled .”
P.S. Here’s an interview Lacamas Magazine did with Kenzie last fall about her brother Micah and the book she wrote about him. This is directly related to Micah’s Miles, the nonprofit she’s talking about here and hoping to get your help with. Check it out:
Feb 11
CCFB Night of Service Rescheduled
We’ve made the decision to pre-emptively cancel our scheduled night of service for 2/12/19. With less than 20 of us able to attend, that seems to make sense, especially with still sloppy roads and the threat of more incoming weather. I did reach out to CCFB to ask about options for another date this spring. They offered up June 11th as a replacement date, so I told them we would take that day. Mark your calendars for that date, please! We’ll regroup after the snow and insanity of winter is gone and give it another shot. Thanks as always for your willingness to serve!
Feb 11
CHS/MST Class of 2014 Grad Riley Hein Speaks!
December and January are great months for reflection as we close one year and start another. For me, that’s often sparked by visits from former students. I’ll be sharing some of those updates here on this page, asking them to share what they’ve been up to, the lessons they’ve learned and applied in their lives, etc. For this post, I’m sharing with you some insights from Riley Hein, CHS/MST class of 2014.
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The analytical thought process that the MST program aims to develop, as well as the opportunities to embrace the research process, will definitely help students in their lives after high school. It certainly translates well to studying a STEM discipline in college, but will be useful regardless of what students want to do after graduating (4 year college, 2 year college, trade school, military, mission, etc.). I would just tell them to remember the skills they have learned in high school (regardless of what they want to do) and do their best to apply them once graduating. And be humble, because it’s pretty incredible what the other people you meet will know or bring to the table skill-wise (again regardless of the career/school path you take).
While at UW, I majored in bioengineering and was also a cadet in the Army ROTC program on campus. During my junior and senior years, I worked with several doctors in the Emergency Medicine Research Lab at Harborview Medical Center (downtown Seattle). The project I worked on sought to further understand the blood coagulation process, specifically with the respect to a drug that is commonly used for trauma patients experiencing massive hemorrhage. The efficacy of this drug, known as tranexamic acid (TXA), was previously identified to decline the later it was administered to patients in need. The cause for this decline in efficacy is still a mystery to doctors and scientists in this field, so my project specifically explored whether this trend was due to the concentration of several integral blood clotting proteins. During my senior year, I also worked with several doctors from Madigan Army Medical Center to create a device for service members suffering from non-compressible truncal hemorrhage. Traditional tourniquets are effective for stopping blood loss from extremity hemorrhage, but the areas around the groin and abdomen pose a challenge due to their physical geometry. My team and I designed an “internal tourniquet”, which could be inserted near a site of injury in the abdomen and subsequently inflated (the device featured a balloon of sorts), thus applying pressure to the entire cavity. Upon graduation, I also commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the US Army and moved to Fort Benning, GA to begin completing my basic officer training. After I complete my training here, I will move to Ft. Hood, TX for my next assignment.
