Excelsior scholarships announced at engineering camp

 

 

Eric Horstman of Ripley Central School with his scholarship certificate and medals.

Competing in the finals of the MacGyver Marble Transport game.

After spending a week together, the 60 youngsters in the FITE SMaRT science and mathematics camp at SUNY Fredonia left with memories, medals and more incentive to keep studying.

In a surprise announcement, Fredonia President Dennis L. Hefner told the students and their parents during the closing ceremony and awards presentation that each youngster would receive a $500 scholarship through the Fredonia College Foundation if they decided to attend SUNY Fredonia - and kept their grades high to meet admissions requirements. The boys and girls received certificates President Hefner as proof of the promise.

President Hefner noted, “This Excelsior scholarship offers a win-win for the students and for SUNY Fredonia. It represents a reward and recognition for the students and the possibility of outstanding students for us in the future. At a minimum, it lets the students know that studying and working hard generates rewards, including real financial rewards.”

The week-long camp, Fredonia’s Introduction to Engineering Via Science, Mathematics and Related Technology, was supported by a $73,785 New York State Excelsior Scholars Grant awarded to SUNY Fredonia faculty Dr. Keary Howard of the Department of Mathematical Sciences and Dr. Michael Jabot of the College of Education. Other sponsors included the university’s Institute for Research in Science Teaching (IRST) and Project PRIME (Professional Resources in Mathematics Education). This was the first camp of this type held in New York State for middle school students.

In addition to living in the Kasling Hall residence on campus and eating lots of pizza, tacos and ice cream in Erie Dining Center, the youngsters, divided into teams with a SUNY Fredonia graduate student counselor, took on challenges involving robotics, computational science including fractals, and nanotechnology.

In robotics, teams tried to recreate the landing of Spirit exploration rover on Mars, using a robot as a data collecting tool.

The fractals exercises introduced students to graphing calculators, which they took home at the end of the camp, and encompassed tenth and eleventh grade mathematics. In nanotechnology, the youths tested stain-resistant clothing among other activities in an effort to discover “how small is small.”

Other enrichment and challenge activities included an ultimate game night with a ’70s theme, a campus scavenger hunt, pitch and catch with water balloons on the athletic fields, a cardboard canoe race challenge in the university’s Steele Hall natatorium pool, and a RockBand Challenge and ’80s dance-off.

The closing ceremony also included the finals of two contests; the MacGyver Marble Transport and SMADNESS, a mathematical equation game, pitting teams of campers against each other. The equation challenge even had parents eager to test their skills against the youngsters. A poster session that morning also highlighted the youngsters’ research. Videographer and professor of theatre and dance Ted Sharon recorded all the week’s action to create a unique souvenir DVD.

Campers had just completed seventh grade and were nominated by math and science teachers in their school districts to attend the week of study and fun at SUNY Fredonia.

Students attending included Allison Munella (Falconer Central School District); Jennifer Merchant, Meghan Conway, Cali Hadely, Rachel Kosinski and Brian Radka (Panama Central School); Alexa Farner, Kevin Fredrickson, Hanna Brawdy, Joshua Veloski, Kyle Swartz, Alayna Kehr and Cayleigh Pracht (Gowanda Central School District); Kayla Bentham, Gregory Momberger, Daniel Tofil, and Miranda Warner (Westfield Academic and Central School); Andrew Desaulniers, Kenneth Oaks, Timothy Barlett and Katelyn Dechard (Cassadaga Valley Central School District); Eric Horstram, Ryan Nyweide, Sierra Tessmer, Cody Rater and Danielle Chapman (Ripley Central School District); Alec Travis-Daugherty, Alexander Deakin, Jeremy Eckstrom, Ryan Mancuso and John Nickerson (Brocton Central School District); Leah Johnson, Emily Indriolo, Marc Trusso, Joseph Scotchmer, Zachary Eklum, Johna Graham, Andrew Lewis and Annie Dyatel (Jamestown Public Schools’ Persell, Jefferson and Washington middle schools); Emily Chaffee, Zachary Torain, Josalyn Szwejbka, Rafael Muller Jr., Alexander Crowell, Christine Aviles, Harlie Kalfus, Audrey Divine, Paul Williams, Janelle Jasinski and Alyssa Brightman (Dunkirk City Schools); Jared Keppel, Kyle Cataldo, Garret Martin and Todd Youngman (North Collins Central School District); Katie Mosier, Campbell Dobbs and Nicole Szymczak (Fredonia Central School District); and Joshua Kinde, Elena Quigley and Jefferey Beauvais (Merton-Williams middle school in the Hilton Central School District).