Hello! I hope this finds you well and enjoying your summer. Just a brief note to share a few highlights and resources coming your way.
While we at the Hub take our role as connectors of great STEM and CTE opportunities and champions very seriously, we also happen to have an awful lot of fun in the process. The camps we’re helping to host this season are a great example. Through our partnership with GAPS, LBCC, OSU, and a handful of innovative educators from across the region, we’ve brought weeklong summer camps to the LBCC campus for middle school students to learn about everything from making their own musical instruments to learning coding through dance. Our own Makey-Makey© resident expert, Chris Singer, equipped a creative crew of young inventors with microcontrollers, bananas, and tin foil to learn about electricity. Seeing the lights go off for these kids as they work and play together to learn big ideas has been so rewarding! You can read more and see some great photos in LBCC’s Newsletter.
A personal highlight for me this summer is my recent trip to Glacier National Park where I enjoyed spectacular hikes, views, and glacier-fed lakes and rivers. I also learned a lot about the geology, ecology, history, and contemporary issues of the region’s indigenous peoples, and the conservation efforts to preserve it for generations to come. As with all our National Parks, Glacier is a truly special place that underscores the importance of our STEM and CTE education and investments!
Thanks and be well,
Sarah Whiteside, Director
Mid-Valley STEM-CTE Hub
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Inventor’s Workshop with Makey Makey
Our Program Coordinator, Chris Singer, a certified Makey Makey instructor, ran this four-day camp where students designed and created their own assistive technology devices, video game controllers, and musical instruments in this camp.
- Read more about the camp and check out some of the photos on our website.
- Check out our video recap.
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Drone Dancing Summer Camp
WOU Dance Instructor, Darryl Thomas, taught students how to use coding and algorithms through the act of dancing. The goal of the class was to have the kids code drones and LED light vests to sync up with their choreographed dance moves. The curriculum of this camp featured technology and engineering lessons while utilizing design-thinking and project-based learning strategies.
- Read more about the camp and check out some of the photos on our website.
- Check out our video recap.
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DIY Guitar Making Workshop
MVSCH Makerspace Coordinator, Forrest Johnson, along with an associate, Niels Nielsen, taught students how to use basic hand tools to create an electric guitar made of scrap wood and an old license plate, along with a small solid-state amplifier. This camp supported a makerspace curriculum with design-thinking strategies while promoting the upcycling of discarded items.
- Read more about the camp and check out some of the photos on our website.
- Check out our video recap.
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Resources, Events, & Upcoming Opportunities |
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Updated Regional STEM Hub Map |
Not sure which Hub you belong to? Check the map and then get in touch with your region’s team. |
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OSU’s NEW Forest Explorer’s Journal
OSU’s College of Forestry is looking for 4th-8th graders to learn about the history and ecology of OSU’s Research Forests. |
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Terra Firma STEM Zine
Our ever-expanding library of STEM and CTE resources has just gotten a little bit bigger once again. This time we have some fun and interactive STEM zines that are most suitable for your middle and high school students. Terra Firma has loads of interesting topics including STEM-centric TikTok accounts you need to go follow, out-of-the-box STEM careers, and crossword puzzles. Available for download and online viewing. |
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The Mid-Valley STEM-CTE Hub's Educator Lending Library is coming soon! Our planned launch in late August/early September will allow educators in Linn & Benton Counties to check out materials from your local Linn County Library Consortium! Drills and hammers, microscopes and slides, electronics and robotics, Lego and KEVA planks, and much much more will be available for classrooms.
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iINVENT camp opportunity for 6th-8th graders |
This summer, take advantage of this FREE camp opportunity to develop your invention skills. Improve lives through invention by working with a community of inventors and OSU students!
Registration Links:
(To download PDFs of the registration forms in English and Spanish, please visit their website.) |
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Portland Community College’s new OMIC Training Center’s On-Ramp to Manufacturing
PCC’s OMIC Training Center is excited to be offering this On-Ramp to Manufacturing training, at no cost, starting on August 16. Promoting careers in manufacturing is one of OMIC's priorities, especially for our young adult population. More information is available at this link. |
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Now Hiring: Executive Director for Oregon STEM
Great opportunity to lead Oregon STEM as our statewide nonprofit’s first Executive Director! |
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August's Social Media Support |
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Using graphics and photos to engage your audience |
Fighting back against the mindless scrolling of everyday social media can be tough. Often viewers whiz right past your post without a second thought, but with some good techniques, you can catch their eye and pique their attention. Having an eye-catching graphic is a key element to being successful with your social media outreach. Here are some things to consider when choosing or creating a graphic.
If you’re creating a graphic:
- Don’t use too much text in your graphic.
- Visually highlight the most important information.
- Choose a legible font.
- Pick out a stylish color scheme.
If you’re using a photo:
- Choosing a photo with people and/or faces is generally more engaging.
- Choose a picture that tells a clear and concise story.
- Don’t be afraid to crop it down to only show exactly what you want the viewer to see.
- Use a high-resolution picture - so it is crisp and clear to the viewer.
Stay tuned for next month’s installment of Social Media Support, we’ll be covering proper graphic sizes and resolutions.
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If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, you're already probably aware of the yearly Perseid meteor shower that takes place during the summer. 2021 is an excellent year for this shower! No matter where you live worldwide, the 2021 Perseid meteor shower will probably produce the greatest number of meteors on the mornings of August 11, 12, and 13. During this peak viewing time, there’ll be no moon to ruin on the show. Read more here for tips on how to most enjoy this year's show! |
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Butterfly's reemergence a win for conservationists |
The Institute for Applied Ecology has teamed up with Benton County and the Department of Fish and Wildlife to help restore the habitat and population of what was once thought to be the extinct Fender’s Blue Butterfly, a butterfly native to the Willamette Valley. Since being added to the Endangered Species Act list in 2000, the population has quadrupled and is considered a huge win for conservationists.
To read the full story, visit here. |
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Save the date: October is Manufacturing Month! |
Our Manufacturing Month activities kick off annually on the first Friday in October with Manufacturing Day (MFG Day) with other events continuing throughout the month, MFG Day helps show the reality of modern manufacturing careers by encouraging thousands of companies and educational institutions around the nation to open their doors to students, parents, teachers, and community leaders.
Check out what we did for last year's Manufacturing Month here. |
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To keep up on the latest MVSCH news, follow us on our social media networks: |
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