Want to make an impact while learning exciting new skills? The BWSI CREATE Challenge is your chance to collaborate with high school and college students from across the country to design and build real assistive …
The Mark Cuban Foundation is thrilled to announce that applications are now open for its Free AI Bootcamp this fall. This twenty-hour program offers high school students an exciting, hands-on introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI) …
See below for info about the Girls Who Can STEM program from MIT. Many of our students have taken advantage of their offerings. We’re excited to announce that applications are now open for the Fall …
On August 20th, the incoming freshman class of 2029 kicked off the 2025-26 school year with the annual Magnet orientation. Students took part in a variety of team building activities such as three-legged team races …
Lilly Langer plans to major in Civil Engineering. She was inspired to join the Magnet program by her older brother and sister, wanting to continue the family legacy. For Lilly, the most rewarding parts of …
Pranaya Shrestha plans to pursue a career in dentistry. He is captain of the swim team and has been swimming for 14 years. He also serves as a mentor in Youth Redefining Success (YRS) and …
After graduation, Yuna Lee plans to attend college and begin preparing for dental school. She says the most rewarding part of the Magnet program was presenting her research at the Washington State Science and Engineering …
Abraham Zhang is proud to have maintained a 4.0 unweighted GPA and to have received the Camas High School Excellence Award every year. He joined the Magnet program to challenge himself academically. “The additional training …
On May 28, the CHS Magnet Program proudly hosted its 18th Annual MST (Math, Science, and Technology) Research Symposium, bringing together students from all four grade levels for an evening of scholarly celebration, innovation, and …
MST students Narayan C., Alex Y., Winston Z., and Shaunak D. represented Camas High School at the BPA Regional Science Bowl held at the University of Portland on February 22nd. Competing for the first time, they made their school proud by winning all their round-robin games and advancing to the double-elimination round as the #5 seed out of 16 teams. In the double elimination round, they faced a tough journey, winning one match between two losses before concluding their campaign. As the only team composed entirely of freshmen, their achievement was remarkable, and they are eager to compete again next year. Congrats to them on their strong showing. Let’s go!
Planning on applying to the CHS MST Magnet? Please attend our Parent & Student MST Magnet Info Night / Webinar scheduled for Thursday, April 10th, from 6:30-7:30, to learn about the program, the application process, and to hear insights from current students about the program’s benefits and opportunities. In the meantime, visit our Admissions Portal to learn about how to apply.
Each December our freshmen and sophomore students present their 1st semester project study progress to a panel of staff and program graduates. It’s one of the highlights of our year, as graduates returning home from college, grad school, work, get to spend time with family and friends and also reconnect with our program and help give feedback. After formal presentations from the students, our grads participate in a panel where they share their post-high school experience with us. Here are a couple of the panels that took place in our presentation rooms. If you watch the video of the grad panel, be sure to turn on the auto-generated subtitles to help you “hear” what they’re saying. (Room #1 Panel & Room #2 Panel)
On December 9th, 2024, 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 Yuna Lee and Alex McNutt.
Ms. Lee conducted an internship at the Oregon Health Sciences University. Here’s an overview of her research focus: “A frankenbody is a synthetic protein created from a main protein body with a hexahistidine tag (also known as a HisTag), biotin, and BirA. The development of a frankenbody would simplify and speed up the procedures in the lab and reduce lab spending exponentially, as it would provide a quick way to access target proteins without having to purchase them through a third-party business. This research aimed to optimize the production and purification of a frankenbody by evaluating two strains of Escherichia coli, T7S and BL21, to determine which was more effective in generating and isolating the target protein.” Poster: Developing a Frankenbody to Probe for HA Tags on Specific Target Proteins
Ms. McNutt interned with Professor Atul Ingle at Portland State University. Here’s a synopsis of her work: “The stereo vision system utilizing the HP Intel RealSense camera was developed to enhance depth perception in low-light environments by generating accurate disparity maps. This system operates by capturing images from two perspectives, using stereo lenses and an infrared projector, and calculating the disparity between corresponding points to produce a 3D depth map. My research focuses on optimizing the Normalized Cross-Correlation (NCC) algorithm, a technique that enhances accuracy by scaling pixel values for improved robustness in challenging lighting conditions.” Poster: Developing an Optimized Computer Vision Algorithm for Disparity Map Generation in Low Light
Congratulations, Seniors, on completing your internships and moving one step closer to graduation!
The Camas School District had the honor of celebrating Kai Pan at the recent September Board meeting! Scientists Rikeem Sholes and Patrick Cooney from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service presented Kai with the Mill Town Pride Award for his outstanding work in streamlining their video review process for monitoring fish populations. Congratulations, Kai—your innovation is making waves!
We started a new, every other year tradition this fall by doing an overnight camp at the Kiwanis’ Camp Wa-Ri-Ki on the Washougal River. Some 65 students grades 9-12 and five MST staff made the trip. We had a blast playing games, doing a scavenger hunt, tie-dying, eating s’mores, and generally just enjoying each other’s company. It was glorious not having cell service!
Magnetos from grades 9-12 (and even a few alumni) attended our annual end of the year picnic on Friday, May 31st, at Grass Valley Park in Camas, WA. The sunshine was flowing, as well as the spikeball, volleyball, basketball, burgers, and dogs. Thank you to all the MST parents and students who contributed side dishes, condiments, drinks, etc. for this annual tradition. We’re almost there, Magnetos …
Camas High School graduate Andrew Okerlund (’21) recently completed the difficult Washington state ‘Bulger List’ (an ascent of the state’s 100 highest mountain peaks) during his 2023 summer break from college. The realization of his dream took careful planning and the methodical acquisition of more climbing education. Okerlund began his quest to climb all 100 Bulger List peaks in June 2023. On Sept. 11, 2023, Okerlund realized his dream and, at 20 years old, earned the title of youngest to finish the list and fifth person to ever finish the list in a single season. Way to go, Andrew!
Along the way, Andrew was supported by a host of friends and many Camas High School/MST alums who climbed with him and/or provided support on his journey. Among those who joined him were Andrew’s brother Vaughn (’12), Zach Hein (’14), and Kevin Hsu (’15), et al. Mr. Hein, the founder of Range Meal Bars, a company that makes high-calorie meal-replacement bars popular with hikers, offered to help create a documentary movie about Okerlund’s climbs. The local Camas premiere of this documentary is scheduled for June 1st at 8:00pm at the Liberty Theater. There will be a live Q&A with Andrew after showing. Come on down to the Liberty and hear about Andrew’s quest to climb!
We frequently hear from our MST graduates. Elizabeth Nilles, CHS class 2020, is set to graduate in early June from UW. Congrats, Elizabeth! Here’s the update she recently shared with us:
In addition to my studies at UW, I work in a research lab at Seattle Children’s Research Institute. For the last 2.5 years, I have been involved in a project using zebrafish to study antibiotic-induced hearing loss. After several rounds of revision, the final research paper for the project was accepted by Frontiers. It is officially published as of March 7th, 2024!
Outside of science, I have also continued my music studies and just had my senior recital! I played works by Bach, Katherine Hoover, Georges Hüe, and William Linthicum-Blackhorse. Here’s the video, if you are interested in listening:
Lastly, I want to express my gratitude for all of you. I am very lucky to have such wonderful, supportive teachers and role models in my life. I appreciate all of the work you do and I look up to each of you very much. Thanks for being part of my educational journey!
What a pleasure it was, indeed, to see all four grades of our program together again on May 22nd, for our 17th annual MST Research Symposium. Students presented their work informally in the CHS Main Commons before migrating into the theater for formal presentations and awards. Speaking of which, we offer a hearty congratulations to the Class of 2024 and best wishes to them on the next phase of their journey! We will miss you!
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