January 2020
Check out the latest JSS headlines:
Free Kits are Still Available!

Is one of your New Year's resolutions to strengthen your STEM curriculum with JSS? We can help. Free kits are still available! 

First, register on Cvent , then request free PITSCO Ray Catcher Sprint kits by emailing your name, school, shipping address, and phone number to [email protected] .

Please ensure that all teachers and/or advisors, volunteers, and participants are registering on the Cvent site before your state TSA conference. (Students may fill out the registration on their own, but they will need a parent/legal guardian’s digital signature on the “Additional Information” page of the registration.)
Remember:
 
  • TSA middle school chapters receive two free kits.
  • Title 1 TSA middle school chapters—and any elementary schools that have registered for JSS Jumpstart through the same Cvent portal—receive five free kits.

All registrants also are eligible to receive a large (17.5 ” x 23.5”) JSS poster, while supplies last, to show off their JSS team pride at their school.
Questions about Cvent registration?
Check out the new Cvent Registration FAQs to help you sign up smoothly for JSS 2020.
JSS Jumpstart

JSS  Jumpstart is an onsite, elementary school-based event that provides elementary-level fifth and sixth grade students with a fun, hands-on opportunity to learn more about renewable energy by building solar powered cars. Learn more.
This New Year, Resolve to Advance Your Teaching Career

TSA partner CompTIA wants to help more teachers become certified in ITF+, an introduction to basic information technology knowledge and skills. Now, the world’s leading technology association is offering FREE to teachers of any subject in grades 6–12 an ITF+:

  • e-book including a study guide
  • certification exam voucher

And if participants complete and pass the exam by  February 29, 2020  as part of this promotion, CompTIA is offering an entry into a drawing for a $100 Amazon e-gift card !

Looking for ways to give your entry a boost?
Here are some tips and techniques suggested by
JSS Event Coordinator Bob Walters:
Reduce Friction: Axles and Bearings

Polishing the axles reduces friction. Bearing surfaces should be smooth and slick. Materials such as nylon or steel work well. Mount the bearing so it overhangs the edge of the chassis, ensuring the wheel does not rub on the chassis. Considering that very little power is available, this rubbing often will stop the vehicle.
Polished Axle
Dirty Axle
Overhanging Bearing
Wheel Rubbing on Chassis
Each month, learn more about AEOP and its STEM connections.
AEOP is celebrating some of the inspirational teachers, students, and mentors who have participated in its programs. It has announced that f ive dedicated STEM educators and learners have received an 2019 AEOP Alumni Award.

Among the winners: Felix Zhan, who participated in Unite—another program managed by the Technology Student Association (TSA) for AEOP. "I worked in a very encouraging environment where everyone wanted each of us to succeed," says Felix of his Unite experience at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Felix says participating in the AEOP program inspired him to advance in STEM by strengthening his skills in research, writing, analysis, and more. See his story .
For more than 50 years, the Army Outreach Educational Program (AEOP) has supported a wide range of educational opportunities in STEM for youth, college, and graduate students, as well as valued teachers. From elementary school through graduate school—students of all proficiency levels, interests, and social and economic backgrounds are encouraged to participate in real-world STEM experiences while also engaging with Army-sponsored mentors.
Get up to speed on STEM with some fun facts.
Did you Know?
There are now twice as many solar jobs as there are coal jobs in the United States.

That's according to a survey from the non-profit Solar Foundation, which also reports solar power provides just a fraction of America’s electricity, about 1.3 percent, as the industry employs more than 260,000 people. The solar industry accounts for one of every 50 new jobs nationwide.

" Solar employs slightly more workers than natural gas, over twice as many as coal, over three times that of wind energy, and almost five times the number employed in nuclear energy,” the Solar Foundation reports.
Outside the Box

"It is the best thing that you can try. It will help and inspire you," says Rebekah, a former JSS team member in Oklahoma who hopes to use the skills she's learned through AEOP to take on a STEM career as a nurse or doctor in the U.S. Army.

Rebekah calls her former TSA chapter advisor, Mr. Stewart Wood, her favorite STEM role model because he "always inspired me to be in programs I might not have tried before."

Mr. Wood is marking 25 years as a teacher. He writes in an AEOP blog "there is no better way—outside of being on the job—to teach a student to understand what a career really is, than to immerse them in real-world application as we do in our JSS project."

Another of Mr. Wood's former students, Alejandro, credits JSS with teaching him "to think critically and outside the box.” Read more about how Mr. Wood and his class overcame challenges with the support of AEOP and TSA, and about Rebekah's path to STEM success.
Your team could earn a prize if your story and photos
featuring your JSS team are highlighted in this section!
The JSS e-newsletter, The Mile Marker , offers news and information on JSS — a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) competition administered by TSA with a grant awarded by AEOP.

JSS empowers teachers, mentors, and other community members to engage 5th through 8th grade students in the designing, building, and racing of model solar cars.