S.T.E.M.

Summer Opportunity for High School Girls and Minority students!

Students from the STEM-E Clubs at East Franklin Elementary and Iotla Elementary had a chance to tour the Macon County Airport on Thursday as part of their Flight Sight curriculum. Thank you to Macon Air for giving these students an amazing experience and inspiring them to take flight!

"Houston, do you read me?" Students in Mr. Kurimay's 6th grade STEM classes have been putting what they have learned about the electromagnetic spectrum to use by creating a communication system using infrared waves. Using Littlebits, the students constructed a transmitter and a receiver and experienced how astronauts can communicate with Earth when they are in space. This also demonstrates how our radio works among other applications.

Building a wind-powered marble maze isn't easy! Students in the East Franklin and Iotla STEAM classes have been working on their maze plans but have also been working on collaborating with others and learning about the Engineering Design Process. They will test their prototypes next week!

Students in the 3rd and 4th grade STEAM classes at Iotla Elementary and East Franklin Elementary have been presenting business/product ideas to our local "Sharks" for a chance at one of 6 spots available to attend the SMART TANK competition at the end of the month. The teams that have been selected will be announced on Monday morning and then they will spend the next 2 1/2 weeks preparing to compete with teams from western North Carolina. There were some great ideas and it wasn't easy to select our final 6! Stay tuned for more information about our teams and their projects!

The "Macon Tracks" Soap Box Derby team is looking for sponsorships. The team has entered four cars in the NC Gravity Games Competition (http://www.ncgravitygames.com/) to be held in Lenoir, NC. We are raising money to help pay expenses such as travel, lodging, and food. Please help us by either spreading the word or considering a sponsorship. We would love either personal or business partnerships! The project has been a tremendous success and has been a collaboration between STEM, CTE, and the Art departments at Macon Middle. Please email, text, or call with questions or sponsorships. Thank you!

Mars Lander Missions were a success in Mr. Kurimay's STEM classes at Mountain View Intermediate School! Students practiced their engineering and math skills to construct a Mars lander that would survive the impact while keeping the crew safe. This interdisciplinary project practiced NC Science and Math skills while allowing students to collaborate, communicate, and be creative! This is what the Macon Portrait of a Graduate looks like!

Students in Mr. Kurimay's 6th Grade STEM Classes at Mountain View Intermediate have been working on coding their Mars Rover (Sphero). Students collaborate with each other to write code that will navigate the simulated Mars surface. This project ties in the 6th-grade science and math curriculum while teaching coding and robotics.

Franklin at Sunset! Amazing drone image by one of our Macon Middle School STEM pilots in Mr. Wilkinson's class, Juan Olvera Mandujano. Absolutely phenomenal!

Students from Mr. Shepherd's Appalachian Culture class visited the Foxfire Village to learn more about traditional skills and crafts including blacksmithing, weaving, log cabin building, cooking over an open fire, and much more. This interdisciplinary project-based course integrates history, language art, art, music, science, and math. Thank you to the Dogwood Health Trust and Open Way Learning for supporting project-based learning at Macon Early College.

Students in the Nantahala School STEM-E Club with Mrs. McMahan have been learning about flight using a National Inventors Hall of Fame curriculum! Thank you to the Cherokee Preservation Foundation for your support of this STEM program!

Please congratulate the 2023 7th-grade winners of the Paper Tower Design Challenge, Andrew, Aiden, and Jackson. These "future engineers" did an outstanding job designing, testing, and improving their projects. Job well done!

The STEM students at MMS are learning to write computer code. Our goal is to work in collaboration with our CTE classes on the chicken coup project. The STEM students will be writing code to automate the coup door, water, and feed.

Students in Mrs. Coker's Science classes learned about DNA today thanks to the Science House Mobile STEM Lab. Thank you to the Cherokee Preservation Foundation, STEM-E Grant through WRESA, and the NC State Science House for their support of this program!

Students in Annie Hornsby's STEM-E Experimental Design class​ earned top honors at the Western Region Science Fair at WCU last week. Congratulations to Abigail Elliott got an Honorable Mention in the category of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Zach Gibson for 3rd place in the Physics Category and, Asher Merritt who won first place in the Engineering category and qualified for the State Science Fair in Raleigh.

The Macon Bots Robotics Team recently attended the Challenger Center in Chattanooga, TN, and the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL. The students were learning about the history of the space program in preparation for their upcoming robotics challenge! Thank you to the Smoky Mountain STEM Collaborative Grant through SCC and NASA for making this trip possible.

Macon Middle School Student Showcase of Work!

We are pleased to extend an invitation to you for the Mountain View Intermediate School solar panel dedication to be held in the morning on Friday, March 31. The installed educational solar array celebrates another ribbon cutting for our program, a funding partnership between NC GreenPower donors, the State Employees’ Credit Union Foundation and the school community. Mountain View School was a recipient in our Program Year 2020. We would be honored if you could attend. Please see the attached PDF or additional information. Date: Friday, March 31, 2023 from 8:15am – 8:45am Location: Mountain View Intermediate School: 161 Clarks Chapel Rd. Franklin, NC 28734 The solar installation is located in the bus parking area off Wells Grove Rd. Questions? Please contact Jennifer Love, STEM Coordinator jennifer.love@macon.k12.nc.us, 828-524-3314 Ext. 1015 As of 2022, donors have helped fund solar installations at 70+ K-12 schools in more than 40 unique counties, reaching nearly 55,000 students. To date, the schools have collectively produced an estimated 842,000 kilowatt hours of green energy, a savings of about $84,000. Thank you for your support of NC GreenPower Solar Schools!

Summer Camp Opportunities through Western Carolina University! Registration opens March 1. https://www.wcu.edu/engage/professional-enrichment/camps-and-programs-for-kids/ Tales From the Dead: An Introduction to Forensic Anthropology For High School Students June 12-16, 2023 | 9:00am-4:00pm Ages 15-18 Registrations opening March 1st at 9:00am: Visit camps.wcu.edu to get more information about summer day-camps offered by WCU. Robotics with LEGOs Exploring Nature Writing Nature Step Back in Time Rocket to Creativity Photovoice The Science of Forensics for Elementary School Students For more information, contact Educational Outreach (828.227.7397, ).

Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont Careers in Natural Resources Camp July 17-21, 2023 Rising 8th - 12th grade students Interested in a career in the outdoors? Join us for a week in Great Smoky Mountains National Park where you will learn about and experience a variety of careers available in the Smokies. See the flyer for more information and to register.