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DECEMBER 2016
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VOLUME 54, NUMBER 3
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Youth Science Center is in Room 17 at Bixby Elementary School (across from Wilson High School) 16446 Wedgeworth Drive Hacienda Heights, CA 91745 (626) 854-9825 |
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You can make a difference!
YSC programs would not be possible without generous support from donors, foundations and other charitable organizations. Your annual support is needed to make STEM education in our community better. For example, with a $120 gift, you can help one disadvantaged student pay for a 6-week session of After School Programming! We appreciate your support of and commitment to Youth Science Center and hope that you will consider giving to our impactful organization this holiday season.
Click here to make an online donation!
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Keynote Speakers Inspire Guests at the YSC Gala
Guest speakers for the evening were Dr. Crystal Dilworth of Caltech and Nanxi Liu, CEO of Enplug, Inc.
Crystal is a trained modern dancer and choreographer who decided to study molecular biochemistry. She is the host of the web series Web Lab
and a frequent guest-host on the Discovery Digital Network. She wants to show that scientists are human,
multifaceted and cool. Her talk featured a video "Quantum Chess" with Dr. Stephen Hawking
and actor Paul Rudd. View Crystal's TEDx talk at CalTech here.
Nanxi Liu co-founded 2 companies by the time she graduated from Cal Berkeley - Nanoly Bioscience and Enplug, Inc. Nanoly developed a polymer that enables vaccines to survive without refrigeration - a real life saver for third world countries. Enplug is the world's leading company that builds open software for displays used in stadiums, retail stores, banks, restaurants and many other businesses around the world. Nanxi was named one of Forbes 30 Under 30 and Fortune Magazine's Top 10 Most Promising Women Entrepeneurs. Besides her entrepreneurial talents, Nanxi is also an accomplished classical pianist and Miss Oakland 2011.
Nanxi Liu spoke on why college is the best time to start a business.
Photo courtesy of Lajajakids.com
Honorees at the October 22nd gala included Ethan Mueller (Los Altos Elementary), Katie Auyeung (Oswalt Academy), Jessica Leung (Troy High School) and Vivian Lam (Wilson HIgh School). Shown left to right are Ron Chong, Ethan Mueller, Katy Auyeung, Master of Ceremonies Mike Eng, Jessica Leung and Vivian Lam. Ethan, Katie and Jessica were STEM essay winners for the "STEM at Home" contest and Vivian was the YSC student volunteer of the year.
Thanks to the following dinner sponsors and supporters
Bronze Sponsors
MC Squared
Ron and Judy Chong
SpaceX
Unical Aviation, Inc.
Community Sponsors
Chinese American Parent Advisory Council
Mount San Antonio College
Royal Industrial Electric
The Grace Group Fundraising Company
Valley Vista Services
Silent Auction Donors
Costco
Don Francisco's Coffee
Disneyland
Elephant Bar
Fire Station 118
Majestic Realty Company
Sanrio - Hello Kitty
Prime Time Basketball Association
Olive Garden
Original Tommy's
Romano's Macaroni Grill
Pieology
PizzaRev
Red Lobster
Rep. Ed Royce
Souplantation
Trader Joe's
Fire Station 118 Dinner - A dinner for 4 persons is available for $120. One of the crews at Station 118 on Gale Avenue in the City of Industry will prepare a
gourmet dinner for you and your guests. The dinner date will need to be set with the station. Contact
the YSC at (626) 854-9825 for details and to order.
Jessica Leung being interviewed by Anne Lam of Lajajakids.com. Jessica's winning STEM essay was about using antimicrobials as a way to combat pandemics.
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After School Program Available To Come to Your School
This fall the afterschool program attracted a lot of interest from both public and private schools. The YSC's afterschool program was given in Hacienda Heights, LaVerne, Pomona, Rowland Heights, West Covina, Whittier and Diamond Bar. The 3D printing lab was also taken on the road to Grazide Elementary and Quail Summit Elementary.
Class topics include model rocketry, aerodynamics, 3D printing, GoPro video, electronics, chemistry, physics, biology and botany.
For information on scheduling the program at your school, contact
Project Manager Diana Padilla at 626 588-7818 or email at
diana@youthsciencecenter.org. A class series usually consists of 6 weekly ninety-minute classes.
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New Starlab Portable Planetarium For in-school Classes
and Nighttime Star Parties
Our portable Starlab Planetarium is available for during the school day and for evening programs. We have upgraded to the latest version of Starry Night software which has many new capabilities along with a new MacBook Pro laptop. The Starlab can seat up to 35 persons per program. Contact Ron Chong at (626) 854-9825 for details.
Program Donations Received By YSC
Thanks to Southern California Edison for a $5,000 grant and to the office of Don Knabe for a $7,000 award to support afterschool STEM programs.
Also received in support of the Project WET 5th Grade
Water Education program were $2500 from the
Rowland Water District and $750 from the
Southern California Water Utilities Association.
Ongoing support for the program is also provided
by the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County.
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American kids dream of doing science-but sadly,they're not that good at it
As part of the Organization for Co-operation and Development (OECD) 2015 test of 15-year-olds (pdf) around the world, called PISA, the group asked students what occupation they expected to be working in when they were 30. When it came to science-the focus of this year's PISA results-the results were confusing.
American kids are plenty fired up to be scientists, with 38% of 15-year-olds saying they expect to work in a science-related career. The average among OECD countries is just 24%. Only Mexican kids beat the Americans, with 41% saying they want to join the field.
This is great news for the US, considering some of the fastest-growing, highest-paid jobs are science-related, be it in software, cloud-computing, robotics, biotechnology, medicine, engineering or programming.
The only problem: In science education, the US is not exactly a stellar performer. In the 2015 PISA assessment, the US ranked 19th in science, out of 35 OECD countries. (And that was better than it did in reading and math, where it ranked 20th and 31st, respectively). Including non-OECD countries, the picture is even bleaker. For the complete article and country rankings, click here.
Ref: Quartz website QZ.COM
December 6, 2016
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Question: Does Bottled Water Go Bad? Yes it can!
Most bottled water has an expiration date stamped on the bottle, but does the bottled water actually go bad? If so, how long is bottled water good? Here's the answer to this common question.
Answer: Although bottled water has an expiration date, it doesn't actually go bad. Why is there an expiration date on a product that doesn't go bad? This is because New Jersey requires all food and beverages, including water, to carry an expiration date on its packaging. It doesn't matter if you don't live in New Jersey... your water may carry an expiration date anyway to make it easier to standardize packaging. Some bottled water only carries its bottling date or a 'best by' date. These dates are helpful because the flavor of the water will change over time as it absorbs chemicals from its packaging. The flavor will not necessarily be bad, but it may be noticeable.
Leaching of chemicals from packaging is a health concern, but as far
as toxic chemicals go, you can get exposure to most of those chemicals from freshly
bottled water as well as bottled water that has been on the shelf a while.
A 'plastic' taste is not necessarily an indicator that the water is bad; absence of an unpleasant flavor does not mean the water is free from contaminants.
While algae and bacteria will not grow in sealed bottled water, the situation changes once the seal has been broken. You should consume or discard water within two weeks after opening it.
Ref: About Education
Updated
December 02, 2016.
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Shop your back to school items at Smile.Amazon.com
Support us when you shop for back-to-school items and all other purchases.
and Amazon donates a portion of every sale to the Youth Science Center.
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48th Ag District News
Read the latest 48th newsletter here.
Highlights of the annual student exhibit fair held last May at the Pomona Fairplex are given in this issue.
The 48th DAA office is located at Building F10 Farm Road, Mt San Antonio College Campus, 1100 N Grand Avenue, Walnut 91789. They have a wide variety of agriculture resource materials available to teachers. Teachers who receive the materials agree to have their students participate in the annual fair in May at the Fairplex in Pomona. Phone (909) 274-2433 for more information. or go to
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Visiting the Hacienda Heights Youth Science Center
The Youth Science Center operates a hands-on science center at
Bixby Elementary School in Hacienda Heights. The Center is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 2 to 4:30 pm. Visitors should check in at the school office first to get directions to our location in Room 17.
During the school year the YSC is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 2:30 pm to 4:00 pm. Please call ahead at (626) 588-7818 if you wish to visit
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Visiting guests can also enjoy the Youth Science Center store, which is stocked with various science related materials. For more information regarding the Youth Science Center please call (626) 854-9825.
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The official newsletter of the Youth Science Center is published February, April, June, October and December. The Youth Science Center was founded in 1962 in Fullerton. The Hacienda Heights branch was established in 1984. The Youth Science Center's Tax ID Number is 95-2273238.
YSC Board of Directors: Youth Science Center Staff:
Chairman: Ron Chong Museum and Summer Director: Diana Padilla
Vice-Chairman: Roger Huynh
Treasurer: Philip Teders Summer Principals: Phyllis Vandeventer
and Dee Rathman Secretary: Victor Wu Summer Registration: Caroline Weatherford
Members of the Board of Directors: Star Lab Instructors: Patricia Smith, Lyle Majeska
Scott Bevans and Karla Magana
John Kirkham
Piyusha Perera
Vicky Soong
Phyllis Vandeventer
Member at Large:
Rolin Soong , Kim Bach, Pat Smith, Anita Tam
William Lundberg
Administrative Aide: Kevin Torres
Thaminda Ramanayake Project Manager: Diana Padilla Office Assistant: Denise Franco
Antenna Editor: Ron Chong Bookkeeping: Edy Au and Vicki Lee
Circulation this issue: 1,564
YSC Website www.youthsciencecenter.org supported and funded by Ryan Gagajena of My Web Design Source
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