SPARC Fundraising Campaign:  Please Donate Today!

 
This Tuesday, November 29, is "Giving Tuesday." Giving Tuesday  is a global day dedicated to giving back as charities, families, businesses, community centers, and students around the world will come together for one common purpose: to celebrate generosity and to support their favorite cause.
 
It was three years ago we learned SPARC's funding had ended.  We didn't wait around and we didn't complain.  We all acted in a spirit of "giving back" and that helped save Project SPARC.  

In three years we have raised more than $45,000 and the SPARC fund currently has a balance of more than $18,000.   Because of your generosity, 200 students are participating in SPARC activities this year.  
 
And as successful as we have been, we have a long way to go in order to ensure SPARC's sustained operation.   On this "Giving Tuesday," or before the end of the year we hope you will consider making another donation to SPARC.  Our goal is to raise $7500 by December 31, 2016
 
All donations are very appreciated.  Please make your donation today using the link below.
 
On behalf of the SPARC students and the NEHS Project SPARC Boosters, I thank you for your generosity and support of SPARC!  

Burt Dicht, Director
NEHS Project SPARC Boosters 


The NEHS Alumni Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit organization. 
The full amount of your gift qualifies as a charitable gift deduction. 
All donations are used to support the NEHS Project SPARC program.
 
Your Donations at Work:  SPARC 2015 to 2016

The donations from SPARC supporters like you enabled the following:  
  • Successful Mars Mission on June 2 to 3, 2016 . . . Four student astronauts launched from Mars to the Martian moon of Phobos where they constructed a recon station to control drones that will be roaming Mars. The flight was based on the movie "The Martian."
  • The NEHS Robotics Team had a very successful competition year:
    • Philadelphia Area League Championship of the FIRST Tech Challenge
      • 1st Place Overall
    • Pennsylvania First Tech Challenge Championship
      • 4th Place Overall
      • 2nd Place for the Promotional Video
    • MATE PA Regional ROV Challenge
      • 6th Place Overall 
      • 1st Place in the Poster Display
      • 1st Place in the T-shirt Design.
  • The Engineering Team placed 2nd in National Rube Goldberg Machine Contest
  • SPARC students gave back to the community by packaging and shipping more than 100 boxes of military canine supplies to the troops overseas 
Your donations will ensure more activities and SPARC upgrades.  Please help SPARC students explore new worlds and develop as future leaders.   Donate Today!

SPARC Plans for 2016 to 2017 
  • More than 300 students applied to the program this year, one of the largest application pools in SPARC's history
  • SPARC is operating four 4 divisions; Robotics, Engineering, Flight and Medical, with about 50 students in each
  • Mrs. Carole Niemiec and her daughter Ashleigh have graciously returned to coach the Robotics Team
  • The Robotics Team is focused on winning both the First Tech Challenge this winter and the M.A.T.E. ROV competition in the spring
  • Mrs. Ann Johnson, the NEHS nurse, is back this year to coach the Medical Division as the approximately 50 students will be earning their Basic Life Support and CPR certificates through the Red Cross
  • The Engineering Division has split into two teams.  Each team is focused on a different competition.  One team is focusing on the Science Olympiad, where students are going to attempt to design, build, and test a vehicle that uses electrical energy as its sole means of propulsion in order to travel as quickly as possible and stop close to a target point.
  • The second competition is the Team America Rocketry Challenge. In this challenge, students are going to build a rocket that launches 2 eggs 800 meters into the air, safely returning them to Earth in a flight that lasts between 44 and 46 seconds.
  • The Flight Division is planning to run two simulated space flight missions as well as train a generation of unmanned aerial systems pilots using Quadcopter drones  
  • The Boosters will be assisting with the creation of a Five-Year Strategic Plan to develop long-range objectives to ensure SPARC remains a preeminent STEM program

 
 Like us on Facebook