What a pleasure it was, indeed, to see all four grades of our program back together last night, May 25th, for our 15th annual MST Research Symposium. Students presented their work informally in the CHS …
We’d like to cordially invite you to join us for the 15th annual Camas High School MST Magnet Program Student Research Symposium, on Wednesday, May 25th, 2022, in the CHS commons and theater, from about …
Congratulations are in order for CHS/MST junior Aiden Bai who placed 3rd in the Systems Software category on May 13th, 2022, at the 2022 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair. Aiden’s project and presentation of …
In a “typical” school year we have two MST parent sponsored breakfasts. During the first semester, we usually have one on the Friday before winter break. The second semester breakfast usually takes place on a …
We love hearing from our graduates and seeing how the varied paths they diverge onto after graduation take them to great places near and far. Last week we heard from 2017 CHS/MST graduate Jason Kim …
MST students in grades 9-11 recently competed in the Washington State Science and Engineering Fair. Many of them took home awards and honors. Congratulations, Magnetos! Here’s a summary of awards that were reported: MST Junior …
Congratulations are in order for MST Sr. Sunny Wang. He was recently named as a finalist in the 80th Regeneron Science Talent Search AND as a National Merit Scholar Finalist! Wow! For his efforts in …
MST Jr. Joy Young was recently awarded the 2022 Oregon and Southwest Washington Affiliate Honorable Mention distinction from the Aspirations in Computing program. Ms. Young was selected from a field of nearly 3500 applicants. Congratulations, …
MST sophomores recently finished their reading of Lord of the Flies and were challenged as part of their final assessment to create an artistic “sketch” or interpretation (colored, penciled, digitized, etc.) that blended both universal …
This information is intended for students who completed the application process and submitted all components of their application:
Thank you for your interest in becoming part of the MST Magnet program. Here is the information on testing that we mentioned we would share with you. Students will need to wear a mask and follow all social distancing protocols.
The testing date is Tuesday, March 8. Students should be dropped off at the CHS North Commons (back of the school) between 4:00-4:10. Bussing from middle schools is not provided. Upon entering the North Commons, students should leave their bags/backpacks along the wall. Their cell phones should be in their backpacks.
Students should find an open seat and wait for proctors to go over testing instructions. The test consists of 3 parts: Verbal, Math, and a Writing Prompt. You should plan on picking up your student at the North Commons at approximately 7:30 PM.
Students should bring several #2 pencils for the test. They may also bring a water bottle and a snack. We have a couple of breaks built in. They will not need to bring a calculator, as they are not allowed on the math section.
If you have any questions, please contact Tom Morris at Camas High School.
AP Environmental (APES) students are currently studying the importance of soil – photos are of student teams investigating soil’s physical characteristics through a variety of texture experiments: ball squeeze, ribbon formation and the “feel” tests.
Thank you to those who were able to make it to last night’s Zoom Info Night Webinar for the CHS MST Magnet Program. If you were unable to make it and/or you’d like to review the presentation, see below for a recording of the event: MST Info Night, TWOsday, 2/22/22, 6:30-7:30
We’d like to invite current 8th grade parents, guardians, and students to an informational Zoom webinar about the Camas High School MST Magnet program that’s scheduled for Tuesday, February 22nd, from 6:30 – 7:30 pm: https://camas-wednet-edu.zoom.us/s/83404277990
During the meeting, you’ll hear from MST students and staff about the application process and the unique characteristics of our program and its students. You will also have the option of asking questions in real time via the chat that will be answered by MST staff as they are asked.
For more information about the program prior to the meeting, please visit our website to review the admissions timeline, application process, sample schedules, etc. CHS MST Magnet Program Website
If after reviewing the website you have questions ahead of the informational meeting, please feel free to contact Tom Morris or Sam Greene at Camas High School.
The Society for Science announced earlier this week that CHS/MST senior Sunny Wang has been named a top 300 Scholar in the 81st Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS) —the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science and mathematics competition for high school seniors.
Regeneron STS recognizes and empowers the most promising young scientists in the U.S. who are creating the ideas and solutions that solve our most urgent challenges. A listing of all 300 Scholars can be found here; a total of 1,805 students around the country entered the competition this year. Each scholar will receive $2,000, and their schools will also receive $2,000 to use toward STEM-related activities. They could also be named as one of 40 Finalists, who each receive $25,000 and participate in the final competition in March. The top prize for the most promising emerging STEM leader in the United States is $250,000. The top 40 Finalists will be announced on Thursday, January 20th.
Congratulations, Sunny! We will be rooting for you!
We recently heard from 2018 CHS/MST grad Sarah Wells-Moran over the break who excitedly reported that she was able to present her work in person at the American Geophysical Union fall conference held in New Orleans from December 13th through the 17th. This was her first in person, collegiate presentation given the disruptions from Covid. What’s the focus of her work, you ask? Here’s what she had to say:
“My research is on ice! I’m specifically trying to find the tensile strength of ice on Antarctic ice shelves through remote sensing imagery. I spent a couple of weeks manually tracing all the fractures I could see on optical imagery through QGIS. Then I calculated stress from surface temperature and ice velocity data, and mapped out principal stress space to create a yield envelope. The tensile strength I calculate can then be put into ice flow models, which can potentially help predict where ice will fracture next, and can be used for sea level rise models in regards to iceberg calving. This summer I’ll be up in the Juneau Ice fields for two months hopefully getting some field data! I’m also hoping to go to Antarctica some day.”
Wells-Moran attends Wellesley College where she double majors in physics and geosciences. She is slated to graduate in December of 2022. After graduation, she plans on pursuing a PhD in the field of glaciology, hopefully starting grad school in fall of 2023. Thanks for the update, Sarah … Good Luck!
2018 CHS/MST grade Sarah Wells-Moran presents at conference.
2018 CHS/MST grade Sarah Wells-Moran presents at conference.
Happy Holidays from the MST Staff to you and your family! And we’d also like to congratulate our freshmen and sophomore students on their December to Remember Mini-Symposium performances yesterday. We understand how nerve wracking that can be, presenting in front of your peers and other strangers, but it was cool to see you stand and deliver and get some feedback from our grads. Bravo! Thanks also to the almost 20 graduates from years 2015-2021 who were able to come back and help with this process!
In some of the rooms you had a chance to hear about life after high school from the grad panel. If you didn’t get that chance, here’s the video of one of those discussions that took place in 710:
Interesting how all the graduates seemed to emphasize taking the time to “stop and smell the roses”, getting involved in clubs and extracurriculars, and working on becoming well-rounded people, etc. Hmmmm … food for thought.
Finally, Ciera Leblanc, a grad panelist from our MST class of 2015, emailed these thoughts to us that struck a chord with many of the staff. We wanted to share them with you:
Plan ahead, but be adaptable and willing to change. Life is unpredictable, and you never know what could change between now and when your goal is set.
Look for opportunities to learn and grow. Don’t assume you’re right (a big part of the scientific process!). Check more than one source.
Have fun, and try new, unfamiliar things! Join the marching band, study abroad, take an interesting class even if it’s outside your major.
Don’t apply to colleges based on name alone. Look into the quality of programs you’re interested in: professors, class sizes, and other opportunities.
Don’t expect to have your dream job directly out of college! (It took me a year of applying before I was able to land a job).
Be proud of your accomplishments, and don’t compare your progress to others. Everyone’s life trajectory is different. It’s okay to complete a college degree in four years, eight years, sometime later in your life, or not at all.
Have a restful and peaceful break … we’ll see you in 2022, Magnetos!
Greetings, Magnetos! The MIT (Yes, thatMIT) Beaver Works Summer Institute (BWSI) is a rigorous, world-class STEM program for motivated high school student . This four-week virtual program teaches STEM skills through project-based, workshop-style courses.
The Beaver Works Summer Institute is pleased to announce that they will have 13 virtual program offerings for summer 2022. To begin the process of pre-qualifying to apply for the summer institute, students will work through a series of prerequisite self-paced units. Participation and performance in the online curriculum during the winter (starting in early February) will be one of the metrics used to determine acceptance into the 4-week program being held in July 2022, which will be taught over the summer at a higher level and will address more research-oriented technologies, techniques, tools, and applications. Check out the summer offerings and program info here: BWSI Pamphlet/Brochure
We’ve had quite a few Magnetos and other CHS students over the last few years take advantage of the MIT BWSI, which is a pretty remarkable experience from what I can gather. Spend a month over the summer working with MIT professors and motivated students from all over the U.S. doing super cool science stuff? Sounds like a winner to me. Anyone interested?
Requirements/Info:
They are attending high school in US or US citizen abroad
They have demonstrated technical ability (evidenced by recommendations from school of cials, test scores, coursework, grades, and extracurricular activities)
They have completed the lessons in the online tutorial for their desired project
Online course starts February 2022 (prerequisite in order to apply to the July program)
On December 13th, 2021, the Magnet senior class presented their summer internship work and projects to the Camas School District school board and community at the Zellerbach Administration Center. After the poster fair, staff, students, and community convened for the regular school board meeting to hear formal presentations of internships by seniors Kevin Klave, Nels Martin, and Rosie Kuhle.
Mr. Klave and Mr. Martin completed an engineering internship this past summer at local company nLight. Here’s the abstract for their project: “The Mach Zehnder interferometer is a scientific instrument that splits a beam of light into two parallel beams and then recombines them to produce an interference pattern. By measuring changes in the interference pattern, one can determine the phase shift of one of the beams, which is caused either by an increase in path length of the beam or by passing the beam through a transparent material. In this project, a Mach Zehnder interferometer was constructed to test a component of a 3-d camera for the company nLight. An infrared semiconductor fiber laser was used to construct the interferometer, and after calibration the expected interference pattern was successfully observed with a camera. The interferometer will be used by nLight to measure the change in index of refraction caused by passing electricity through a Pockels cell. where they worked with lasers to researched the efficacy of printer friction pads.” Poster: Configuring a Mach-Zehnder Interferometer to Measure Refractive Index of Pockel Cells
Ms. Kuhle conducted an internship at Lord Hill Regional Park, located in Snohomish, WA, researching their use policies and gathering park user data to update a use policy from the 90s. Here’s her abstract: “This park currently runs under a supplemental master plan from 1996, which has outdated maps and assessments of user groups. The two main user groups highlighted in that plan are equestrians and hikers, however mountain biking has become a popular sport at the park. Because mountain biking became popular after the implementation of the 1996 master plan, there are little specifications written about bike trails and regulations. My survey administration at Lord Hill Regional Park was intended to gather quantitative and qualitative information that the Snohomish Parks and Recreation department could use to develop an updated master plan. The results suggest that park satisfaction and sense of safety is high among all user groups. The results also suggest that roughly 30% of users have gotten lost in the park, and up to 50% have had conflict with other user groups. These data may be considered when determining the next steps for managing Lord Hill Regional Park.”Poster: Park Management at Lord Hill Regional Park
Congratulations, seniors, on completing your internships and moving one step closer to graduation!
