Dec 15

MIT BWSI 2022 Virtual Summer Institute

Greetings, Magnetos! The MIT (Yes, that MIT) 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 ofcials, 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)
  • Virtual BWSI runs July 11 – August 7 2022*
  • To get more information about the program and application process: https://beaverworks.ll.mit.edu/CMS/bw/BWSI
  • Nominate yourself here: Student Self-Registration Link

Permanent link to this article: https://chsmstmagnet.com/2021/12/bswi/

Dec 15

Senior Symposium 2021

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!

Cheers!

Mr. Greene and the MST Staff

Permanent link to this article: https://chsmstmagnet.com/2021/12/senior-symposium-2021/

Nov 17

Magnet “Half-Nighter”

One of the most beloved traditions in the MST Magnet is our annual “Overnighter” event where we spend the night at school and play games, watch movies, share food, etc. We’re still not ready for the full scope and scale of this event in the midst of a pandemic, but, alas, we are ready for a “Half-Nighter”, and that’s just what happened this past weekend on Friday night, November 12th. From 4:30-11:30, staff and approximately 100 of our students gathered at school, minus the food, minus the sleeping bags, and played games and once again enjoyed each other’s company. Highlights of the night included riveting Jenga matches, cut throat spoons games, ping pong, spike ball, and, of course “Mafia”! Thank you to the Magnetos and staff who made this possible.

 

Permanent link to this article: https://chsmstmagnet.com/2021/11/magnet-half-nighter/

Oct 19

Team 2471 Cuts through Competition

On October 9, in Wilsonville, OR, the local FIRST Robotics Team 2471 (Team Mean Machine) had their first in-person competition since quarantine started. They brought two robots to this event, Artemis (2020) and Apollo (2021). Apollo struggled due to drivetrain issues, so unfortunately we weren’t able to see much from it before the team turned their focus to Artemis. This strategy paid off, though, as Artemis ended up in the winning alliance! Before losing connectivity almost completely by the end of the day, it was able to show off a high-speed shooter, autonomous aiming, and practiced driving. We’ll next see the team shooting t-shirts into the crowd at the homecoming game! (Submitted by Ayla Crowell, team president)

Interested in joining? Check out their website: team2471.org 

Permanent link to this article: https://chsmstmagnet.com/2021/10/team-2471-cuts-through-competition/

Sep 09

MIT BWSI Fall Outreach Program for Jr. Girls

Passing on some info about an upcoming program being offered by MIT to junior girls. Who’s in?

“We are excited to announce the BWSI Fall Program (virtual) for 11th Grade female students starting in October. The program is completely free, all students need are laptops and wifi to be a part of the program.  If a student does not have a laptop they can reach out to us for a loaner, so make sure that doesn’t stop anyone from signing up.

We are offering the following programs:

  • Girls Who Program Autonomous Cars
  • Girls Who Design, Build and Fly Model Aircraft
  • Girls Who Want to Learn Many Interesting Things
  • Girls Who Program Cognitive Assistants
  • Girls Who Program Autonomous Cars – BWSI-Pacifi­c
  • Kwaj Mini-RACECAR Middle School (Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands)

WHO: High School 11th Grade Female Students

WHEN: Saturdays 11am-2pm (EST): October 16, 23, 30, November 6,13, 20, December 4, 11, 2021

WHERE: Virtually, through Zoom!

REGISTER: https://mit-bwsi.formstack.com/forms/bwsi_fall2021

The attached brochure has more information on what each course will be offering.  We would love it if you could share with your students.

Must fill out application link to be considered. Students must sign up by September 30, 2021.”

Permanent link to this article: https://chsmstmagnet.com/2021/09/mit-bwsi-fall-outreach-program-for-jr-girls/

Sep 08

Welcome to the 2021 School Year!

Things are off to a running start at CHS and in the MST Magnet Program. How nice it is to have all of us back under one physical “roof”, reveling in each other’s presence and basking in the glory of in person school. This feeling was no more underscored than it was during our annual freshman MST orientation that was held on 8/25 from 330-545pm at CHS. There was much needed laughter and safe togetherness as students, staff, and upperclassmen played ice breakers and competed in the annual Magnet Olympics. Congratulations to  the black team on being crowned this year’s winners of the games. Their names will be inscribed on our trophy and preserved for posterity for years to come. The winners are Cai D., Cody A., Logan V., Bethany M., Jenny W., and Angela Y.

Permanent link to this article: https://chsmstmagnet.com/2021/09/welcome-to-the-2021-school-year/

Jun 07

2021 MST Magnet Picnic

On Friday, June 4th, from 4-530pm, we had our annual end of the year MST Magnet Picnic at Grass Valley Park in Camas, WA. It was well attended, with between 70-80 Magnetos coming together to enjoy each other’s company, reflect on the year, play spike ball, hacky sack, kick ball, etc. No food this year, but at least we were able to get together and it didn’t rain!

This has been the strangest of strange years as we’ve walked through a pandemic together. We really appreciate the grace and flexibility you all demonstrated with us and your peers that helped us get through this.

Good luck to the seniors as you start the next phase of your journey! For the rest of us, let’s finish the year strong and then go and enjoy our well-deserved summer!

Permanent link to this article: https://chsmstmagnet.com/2021/06/2021-mst-magnet-picnic/

May 26

Magnetos Excel at ISEF

Two of our MST students, Aiden Bai and Sunny Wang, qualified to participate in the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) this year, advancing through regional and then state qualifiers to earn their spots. Congratulations to Aiden Bai (10th grade MST student) who placed second in the Systems Software category. He won $2,000 in prize money for his project, which focused on using his streamlined LUCIA JavaScript software library to create performance-focused web applications. Way to represent Camas, Aiden and Sunny! We are so proud of you.

ISEF, a program of Society for Science for over 70 years, is the world’s largest global science competition for high schoolers. Through a global network of local, regional, and national science fairs, millions of students are encouraged to explore their passion for scientific inquiry. Each spring, a group of these students is selected as finalists and offered the opportunity to compete for approximately U.S. $5 million in awards and scholarships. This year’s ISEF featured over 1,800 young scientists representing 49 states and 64 countries around the world. 

For a full list of ISEF awards, click here.

Permanent link to this article: https://chsmstmagnet.com/2021/05/magnetos-excel-at-isef/

May 25

2021 CHS MST Research Symposium Recap

Due to the COVID-19 restrictions currently in place, we were unable to have our annual “in person” research Symposium of MST project study that we usually present to the CSD staff, family, friends, and community each spring. Fear not, though! We’ve found a digital solution to honor their work. Please take a moment to peruse the interest based playlists below to see and hear what you have made possible through your continued support of the Math, Science, and Technology Magnet program at CHS.

For those who were unable to attend the 5/24/21 live Research Symposium Webinar where we highlighted research from two seniors (including information on their internships), a sophomore group, and a freshman group, here’s the recording of that event for your review: CHS MST Research Symposium Webinar

Congratulations, Magnetos!

Permanent link to this article: https://chsmstmagnet.com/2021/05/2021-chs-mst-research-symposium-recap/

May 24

MST Rocket Boys Advance to Finals

The Camas Magnet Rocketry Team, consisting of Steven Wu, Stephen Fewel, and Andrew Allen (10th grade MST students) has qualified to compete in the national finals of the 19th annual American Rocketry Challenge (TARC). The team is one of 100 teams from across the country competing to claim the title of national champion. The American Rocketry Challenge’s Final Fly-Offs will take place June 13th in Pasco, WA. The final would typically take place on a single day/launch outside of Washington, DC, but regional launch sites have replaced a national one due to COVID-19.

The American Rocketry Challenge is the aerospace and defense industry’s flagship program designed to encourage students to pursue study and careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The competition challenges middle and high school students to design, build and fly a rocket that meets specific altitude and flight duration parameters. This year’s rules require teams to design, build and launch a model rocket that carries one raw egg to an altitude of 800 feet, stays airborne for 40-43 seconds, and return the rocket to the ground safely with the egg intact. At the National Finals, each team’s goal is to launch a rocket 775 feet and land within 39-42 seconds. The second flight goal is 825 feet and land within 41-44 seconds.

The Camas Magnet Rocketry Team will compete for more than $100,000 in cash and prizes, along with the title of National Champion. The top 25 teams will be invited to next year’s NASA Student Launch workshop. Sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association, the National Association of Rocketry and more than a dozen industry partners, The American Rocketry Challenge is the world’s largest rocket contest. Now in its 19th year, The American Rocketry Challenge has inspired more than 80,000 middle and high school students to explore education and careers in STEM fields. This year, 615 teams representing 43 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands designed and built model rockets in hopes of qualifying for the National Finals.

Good luck on June 13th, Team! Let’s go!

For more information about The American Rocketry Challenge 2021 please visit www.rocketcontest.org. For the full list of 100 finalists, click here.

Permanent link to this article: https://chsmstmagnet.com/2021/05/mst-rocket-boys-advance-to-finals/