A girl is held up by her mother so she can see students working during the W.F. West STEM building grand opening ceremony in this January 2018 file photo.
For students suffering from academic withdrawal, W.F. West High School has two STEM workshops this summer.
The school partnered with the University of Washington and Centralia College to create two different four-day summer STEM camps in July and August.
“Early and sustained engagement in STEM is critical to attracting students to high demand and rewarding engineering occupations,” said Dean of Engineering at the University of Washington Mike Bragg in a press release. “We are excited to partner with W.F. West as they lead this important engagement work through their summer STEM camp in Chehalis.”
Both camps cost $50 and are limited to 60 students. Each camp offers two days at W.F. West, a field trip to the University of Washington campus and a day at Centralia College. Both camps will attend Centralia College on August 9.
Session I: Intro to Engineering explores the gravity car design process, prototyping, computer design and core engineering skills.
“Our UW Engineering faculty and students will work with 60 [high school] students to design, build and test prototype vehicles that are propelled using potential energy sources,” Bragg said. “Students will be introduced to the rigorous engineering development process and will gain skills in team building, team work, technical communications and the use of fundamental engineering tools such as Computer Aided Design and 3D printing.”
Session II: Pre-Med delves into molecular and cellular biology, STEM cell and developmental biology, anatomy, physiology and regenerative medicine.
“Biotechnology and medicine are important sectors of STEM with excellent employment opportunities,” said Director of Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine at UW Medicine Charles Murry. “We will be teaching the students how stem cells build our bodies, help us repair and regenerate ourselves and how they can cause cancer when they are mutated. We are looking forward to meeting these terrific students.”
For the final day at Centralia College, students choose two workshops to attend. A few of the topics include, emerging technologies, robotics, video game design and exploring a mammalian heart.
Students can choose to attend one session or both, and can sign up by visiting www.chehalisschools.org.
Session I: Intro to Engineering takes place on July 30 and 31 from 9 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. at W.F. West and on August 1 from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. at University of Washington. Session II: Pre-Med takes place on August 6 and 7 from 9 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. at W.F. West and on August 8 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at University of Washington. Both sessions will take place at Centralia College from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. on August 9.
“We are appreciative of the partnerships with these institutes of higher learning,” said Chehalis School District Superintendent Ed Rothlin in a press release. “We want our students to succeed not only while they are with us, but once they move on beyond grade 12.”
