To see your team’s standings, match results and more, visit here.

New Hampshire Team Standings

• Manchester, Central High School. Team 131, “Chaos”
• Manchester, Memorial High School.  Team 238, “Crusaders”
• Windham “Wind-up”, Team 3467
• Merrimack High School.  Team 166, “Chop Shop”
• Milford Area Home Schoolers.  Team 1519, “Mechanical Mayhem”
• Trinity High School.  Team 40, “Trinity Robotics”
• Nashua High Schools.  Team 151, “Tough Techs”
• Greater Nashua Area Schools.  Team 2342, “Phoenix”
• Bishop Guertin.  Team 811, “Cardinals”
• Safford Robotics Group.  Team 3126, “Flash Point Robotics”

Image via Wikipedia

THE NEW COOL

The astonishing story of a team of high school seniors and their remarkable mentor, who come together—not to play a sport or exercise their athletic prowess—but rather to build a machine that will battle in the most heated, sophisticated robotics contest in the world. The FIRST competition, sponsored by genius inventor Dean Kamen, is jumpstarting American innovation for the next generation—and beyond.

You can find the book’s web site here.

“Gripping…An inspiring homage to the spirit of invention and a geniune sports epic, to boot.” –Publishers Weekly

“Fast-paced, absorbing, and suspenseful. It is heartening to know that there are still dedicated teachers like my Miss Riley who take up the challenge of science beneath the American sky.” —Homer Hickam, author of #1 NYT Bestseller Rocket Boys

“Outstanding…Neal Bascomb has penned an indelible portrait of a team on a mission that may ultimately be reckoned one of the defining books of the decade.”
—Dean Kamen, Founder of FIRST

“Gripping. The New Cool is a tale of triumph both in and outside the classroom. It gives me hope for the future of education.” —Erin Gruwell, author of #1 NYT Bestseller Freedom Writer’s Diary

Related articles

• Let the geek worship begin (newscientist.com)
• First Robotics Competition (201003050001HQ) (fakeiitian.com)

#1519 “Mechanical Mayhem” – Milford Area Homeschoolers – Milford, N.H.
#1058 “PVC Pirates” – Londonderry High School – Londonderry, N.H.
#1073 “The Force Team” – Hollis-Brookline High School – Hollis, N.H.

The 2010 Granite State FIRST Regional Robotics Finalists are:

#134 “Team Discovery” – Pembroke Academy – Pembroke, N.H.
#1922 “OzRam” – Hopkinton and John Stark High Schools – Contoocook and Weare, N.H.
#78 “Airstrike” – Aquidneck Island Robotics 4-H Club – Newport County, R.I.

Congratulations to everyone!

MANCHESTER, N.H. – The 2010 Granite State Regional FIRST Robotics competition, sponsored by BAE Systems, brings students and their mentors together in a two-day competition that emphasizes teamwork, innovation, and strategy.

The first day of competition ended with several teams receiving awards:

* The Outstanding Volunteer Award went to Luan and Mike Heimlich, a New Hampshire couple who moved to Australia in 2009 and began the FIRST program there – bringing the country’s first FIRST team back for the Granite State Regional.
* The Imagery Award went to South Portland High School in Maine, for their attractiveness in engineering and outstanding visual aesthetic integration from the machine to the team appearance.
* Trinity High School from Manchester, N.H., received the Engineering Excellence Award. The award recognizes an elegant and advantageous machine feature. The team’s hurdling arm was particularly effective in game play.
* Milford Area Youth Homeschoolers Enriching Minds from Milford, N.H., received the Rockwell Automation Innovation in Control Award for an innovative control system or application of control components to provide unique machine functions. The award recognized the team’s powered mechanical system to manipulate the ball.
* The Xerox Creativity Award went to Walpole High School from Walpole, Mass. The award celebrates creative design, use of a component, or a creative or unique strategy of play. The team used a center pivot design for their frame.
* The Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers Entrepreneurship Award went to Shenendehowa High School from Clifton Park, N.Y. The award honors a team that is unique, enthusiastic and well organized, and one whose well-honed business skills will keep them operating successfully for years to come. This rookie team of freshmen and sophomores assembled a team handbook that included a long-term strategy.
* Manchester High School West from Manchester, N.H., received the Website Award, which recognizes excellence in student-designed, built and managed FIRST team site.
* The Rookie Inspiration Award recognizes outstanding effort as a FIRST team in community outreach and recruiting students to engineering. The award went to the Local Supporters and Safford Robotics Group from Hollis, N.H.
* Jeff Reuter a team mentor for Hollis-Brookline High School in Hollis, N.H., received the Dr. Woodie Flowers Award that honors outstanding contributions to the mission of FIRST.

Final rounds are scheduled to start at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 6. The Granite State Regional Finals will broadcast live play-by-play action from noon to 3 p.m. The broadcast will be hosted by Tech Talk’s Craig Peterson. The competition will be on WGIR locally, and will be streamed on the internet at http://www.iheartradio.com.
All times are subject to change. The event is open to the public. Admission is free, and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.

We’re going to be covering the FIRST competition live in Manchester, NH on Saturday the 6th of March. For more visit BAE System’s FIRST Regional Web Site We’ll also be carrying our live play-by-play online at WGIR AM

We’re scheduled to talk with the Presidents of BAE Systems, the host of the event, both national and regional. Lots of engineers, teams and of course politicians.  Even the Governor has asked to be on the show.

Fun for the whole family, free to attend and it’s even educational. Join us on Saturday from Noon to 4 or 5pm as we cover the event at the Verizon Wireless arena in Manchester, NH.

FIRST – For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology – designs accessible and innovative programs for young people to help build their self-confidence, knowledge and life skills. The programs motivate students to pursue careers in science, technology and engineering.

The Granite State Regional, sponsored by BAE Systems, brings more than 1,500 students and their mentors together in a competition that emphasizes teamwork, innovation and strategy. In early January, teams received a challenge to design, develop and build a robot in six weeks using a common parts list. The robots compete in randomly selected alliances, performing a variety of tasks for scoring points.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Radio Broadcast of the FIRST Regional Competition in Manchester (CraigPeterson.com)
• Dean Kamen’s 2010 Homework (radar.oreilly.com)

Historically we’ve had some trouble finding volunteers to:

- Help with the play-by-play on-air.  This needs to be someone who is very familiar with the game and the teams and who is great on-air with me.  Usually we’re on the floor talking about the teams and the game during the finals.  They also need to bring noise-resistant headphones and/or ear buds with sound deadening headphones that can plug into our wireless receiver that they wear on their belt to be able to hear me, the station and other hosts that I’ve invited.

- Someone to track the score and put together playoff charts down on the floor (as well as before the finals, but it’s a little less urgent).  As we’re doing the play-by-play during the finals we need to know instantly what the score is, who the contenders are, what the current round is and who’s moving on to the next round.  It’s difficult to track all that while we’re on the air.

- Pre-show research.  We need to have background information about every team along with some interesting tidbits that we can use to talk about while we’re on the air.  Karen (my wife) has been putting some of this together over the past few years by scraping information from the teams’ web sites she’s found, but it’s not ideal.  Ideally this volunteer would contact the teams and get some cool information from them, too.

If they really wanted to go above-and-beyond it would be great to get pre-recorded “Hello!” messages from the teams.  If they co-ordinated it with Karen we could set up a telephone patch before the regional, have the team get around a speakerphone and say something like “Hello!  This is team 1590, Mechanical Meyhem from Milford, NH” or something similar.  This would be fun to air when the team goes to the floor for competition.  It would be difficult to get this type of information the day of the event.

- A volunteer to rustle up a team member from time-to-time to talk about what just happened on the floor.

That’s the main stuff.  We’ve got volunteers from the radio station who will get everything set up for us…

If you’re interested in helping out, post me a comment.

You’ll be able to listen live from anywhere in the world at http://wgiram.com and we’ll try and post a recording of the regionals a week or so after they air.  In years past we’ve had people in Iraq and Afghanistan listening (my guess is it’s some of our troops) and from a couple of dozen other countries.

Pass this information around as widely as possible.  Let Parents, Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents and friends know that they can listen live to the coverage of the event along with commentary and interviews with teams, officials and sponsors of the event.

Also, don’t forget to thank WGIR and WGIN for carrying the event and for their technicians and on-the-air talent for volunteering their time.  We hope to have Charlie Sherman, Angela Anderson and Erin Boss helping out me, Craig Peterson, again this year!

This is going to be a great game this year.  You can find out more by going to http://www.usfirst.org/

We’re thinking that we’ll cover it again this year, but we’ll have to find volunteers to help with the broadcast and get our local affiliate radio station (WGIR AM) to provide us with the equipment and airtime.

Do you think it’s worth it?  Let me know.  Producer at CraigPeterson.com

In March, we decided to have them on the show.  You can see the write-up on my show site here, and listen to the interview on my podcast site.  Matt Palma, the VP of Sales & Marketing over at iRobot, was pretty convincing.  We talked about some of the new technology embedded in the new 500 series of Roombas and it sounded impressive, but I’ve seen the Roombas before and since I wasn’t terribly impressed with them I knew that his talking points had been bravado.

Then the impossible happened.  They sent me one to try out.  And I tried it.  Things changed.

It took less than five minutes to get the Roomba set up.  We programmed it to start every morning at 8:30 and set up a couple of “Lighthouses” in rooms we wanted it to clean.  Then we hit the “Clean” button to send it on its way, and after playing a little tune on its internal speaker, off it went.

It uses a special pattern combined with numerous sensors to make passes on the floor and try and cover the problem areas, which is does quite effectivley.  It even monitors the stream of junk that it’s sucking in to see when it hits an area that deserves some additional attention, and will immediately go into an intense spot cleaning mode by spinning around and cleaning in some concentric circles.

The version we have, the 560, uses two brushes combined with the vacuum to do its job.  The first brush is a bristle brush not unlike those found in beater bars in regular vacuum cleaners, and the second is a four-bladed rubber brush that Roomba uses to clean tile, wood and conrete (non-carpeted) floors.  Actually they both run together in most, if not all, circumstances.

The results?  An excellent job of maintenance cleaning.  Roomba’s two trash compartments were full.  It had picked up everything from small pieces of paper and even sand all the way down to dust.  The pet hair that was on the carpet — even in corners — was gone, and the 560 isn’t even their pet hair model.

Then there’s the computer wires, power wires and tassels on the carpets.  We always have had to be careful when we’re vacuuming because the beater bars will rip up most of these wires.  Not a pretty picture.  I was concerned that the little Roomba would have some real trouble with all of these, so we spent some serious time cleaning before letting her go loose.

Of course, over the next few weeks, we stopped all of the preventative cleaning.  Wires were left laying around, the carpet tassels weren’t moved out of the way.  Things kind of got back to normal.  But how would Roomba do?

Amazingly enough, Roomba detects when it’s pulling on a wire, tassels or other obstructions and hasn’t damaged a single thing.  All of the wires have been left in-tact, all of the carpet materials are still in great shape an Roomba keeps going.

The robot takes about an hour and a half to clean our entire first floor, and it even remembers the layout of the room if it is started at the same point each time.  We use it’s “Spot” button when when take it to an area that needs cleaning and let it clean an approximately 3-foot square area, then we hit the “Dock” button and off it goes to find its dock and plugs its self in, recharges and is ready for the next vacuuming job.

My opinion of this little robot has come a long way since I first saw it cleaning a small spill at the retail vacuum store.  The Roomba is still not a complete replacement to getting out the big old vacuum and going to town, but it does do an absolutely acceptable job of keeping things fresh and clean, eliminating 6/7th of our vacuuming jobs as the old equipment (and out backs) get a break.

Good job, iRobot!

Overall, we had a great time at the event!  Thanks to all the people who visited us at the event and for your comments regarding our live broadcast.  We’re always looking for ways to improve things for next year!

If you have any comments about our coverage, send me a note via craig at craigpeterson.com and let me know what you think!

You can join us live at the event at no charge!  No tickets are needed, and entrance is free for anyone who shows up.  The most fun and interesting part of the game, finals, starts at 1PM Saturday.

The very first US First robotics competition in the world was held in Manchester, New Hampshire.  The Granite State Regionals remains the most popular FIRST competition in the world and teams from all over the East Coast come right here to participate.  According to their web site, FIRST was founded in 1989 to inspire young people’s interest and participation in science and technology.

You can listen live on WGIR, WGIP or WGIN AM from Noon ’till 5PM Saturday or online at WGIR AM.com  Click on the “Listen Live” link.

There are now Space Camp programs for Children, Adults and even for Corporate events. Children will learn more about space, space shuttle, robotics, mars etc in these camp programs. These programs enhance teamwork, self-confidence and communication and these will be achieved through state-of-the-art simulations, missions, rocket building and robotics.  For scholarship, photo gallery, international camps, and more information about these camps, visit http://www.spacecamp.com/category.php?cat=Space

Participants will have three fields of specialized study (or track options) to choose from: Aviation, Space, and Robotics tracks.

Aviation Track

Kids will learn flight dynamics, wilderness survival, teamwork, and spend time in high-performance jet fighter simulators. They learn all the skills that an American fighter pilots use to rule the skies.

What makes an airplane fly? It’ll teach them the principles of flight, not in the classroom, but standing next to an F-16 or F-14 planes!

Space Track

In addition to a Shuttle Mission, space track campers go through extensive Mars training to prepare for interplanetary travel. They will learn about the planet, its soil, geology, climate and atmosphere. They will also receive crew assignments, and set ready to go!

Settle into your new home – Mars Outpost – Alpha Station. Explore the surface of Mars. Conduct experiments on the soil and rocks collected, as well as keeping everything on board the Mars Outpost running smoothly. Once the mission is complete, it is time to head home to Earth.

Robotics Track

Kids will learn how to rescue astronauts from the International Space Station! 10 hours of designing and programming a robot using LEGO Mindstorm software and materials.

Kids form team of four to five and create the ultimate robotic rover, using an unlimited array of gears, pulleys, sensors, and other parts. Then they program the robot to perform tasks at the ISS using the latest computer software. They test their creations and compete with other groups to save stranded astronauts and deliver supplies to the space station.

There are 10 space programs to choose depending on your age. All the below mentioned programs follow the above three tracks.

Space Camp program duration is 3 – 6 days. It uses space to excite and educate children ages 9-11 in the fields of math, science and technology. In space camp, everything you will learn about Space Shuttle Systems and life aboard the Orbiter and Space Station. Kids can try out space food, learn to sleep in space and even how to go to the bathroom in space! To know more about the program, click here.

Space Academy is an increased intensity program of astronaut and mission training and academics. Simulated missions to a space station and crew rotation highlight the week. Trainees who want to be Astronauts must learn to think like astronauts and our Space Academy Programs are designed to do just that! This program is kids aged 12 – 14 and length of this program is 6-day and 8-day. Trainees will participate in Shuttle Missions, Space Simulators, build & launch rockets and sample space food. To know more about the program, click here. Participants will go through Team-Building skills, Space Simulators Training and Space Shuttle Mission Training activities which are part of this program.

Advanced Space Academy is for ages 15 – 18 and offers programs for 6-day and 8-day. During this week-long program, trainees get hands-on training, as well as learn about the mental, emotional and physical demands astronauts must face. Fields of study include Engineering, Space Technology and Aerospace Science. The Advanced Space Academy program is a college-accredited program through the University of Alabama-Huntsville (UAH). All Advanced Space Academy participants will earn one hour of Freshman-level general science credit from UAH. For details on activities and tracks, click here. Choose your path of study from one of the racks listed below.

• Pilot Track Trainees will take command of an orbiter on its mission to the International Space Station. A pilot will follow the checklist procedures of a mission and be required to make emergency decisions while monitoring and commanding the crew.
• Pilot SCUBA Track Trainees will continue to command or pilot an orbiter and learn Aerospace Science as their core basis for training, but instead of flying the Flight Simulators at Aviation Challenge, they will SCUBA dive in the UAT SCUBA tank.
• Mission Specialist Track Trainees will be instructed in the engineering and design of the shuttle and space station. Repairs to either will be conducted in the UAT SCUBA Tank creating and accurate environment for the space walk.

Parent / Child program is designed to give both of you an overview of space exploration, while experience very real space simulations. Parent Child Space Camp is a weekend for just the two of you, providing the opportunity to become partners in learning. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and lift off! Watch the rocket that you and your child built together soar. Share the pride that your child will feel while manoeuvring the orbiter through space. What better way to build a lasting relationship than through Parent Child Space Camp?

Get ready for a weekend of non-stop activities. Together, you and your child will explore the history – present and future – of space flight. You will also experience the excitement of being there while watching an IMAX movie! See Shuttle astronauts perform missions in space, ride along as Aviators throttle up, or explore the surface of mars.

Participants also get a packet of exciting activities to explore scientific concepts at home. Click here for details on Parent/Child Program activities.

Adult Programs will put your skills, abilities and talents to the test in training simulators and simulated missions. Experience four G’s of force when you blast off 140 feet on SPACE SHOT. Feel what it’s like to walk on the moon in the 1/6th Gravity Trainer, then experience a simulated tumble in space in the Multi-Axis Trainer. You’ll also alternate roles in mission control and shuttle crew during two different Space Shuttle missions.

Witness space exploration almost firsthand in a giant-screen IMAX Spacedome theater presentation. You will also spend time in our world class Space Museum containing America’s largest collection of space artifacts.

Special Programs are for blind and visually impaired and the deaf and hard of hearing, these programs offer all the excitement of Space Camp & Aviation Challenge.

The Space Camp and Aviation Challenge programs specifically designed for blind, visually-impaired, deaf and/or hard-of-hearing attendees have attracted students from across the United States and around the world.

Over the years, we have worked closely with several organizations, including the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind, the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and the Blind, and most recently, the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, to develop a meaningful, inspirational experience for these students.

Program highlights may include a presentation by blind and/or deaf NASA professionals on career choices and working in the space industry. Enlarged print, sign language interpreters, attention to mobility hazards and other special considerations are extended to put trainees at ease.

Blind students also benefit from the latest technology in the field, including tactile Braille displays and synthetic speech for computers.

Day Camps offer exciting opportunities for learning, friendship and adventure. It has split into two groups, 7-8 year old and 9-11 year olds. You can choose from any of the three programs – Expedition camp, Space Camp and Aviation Challenge sessions. For more details about this day camps, click here

Educator program offer professional development opportunities for both formal and informal educators, as well as a variety of programs for students.

Corporate program take corporate development training and incentive programs to a whole new level… letting you jump into a flight suit and take on the role of an astronaut or fighter pilot!

For scholarship, photo gallery, international camps, and more information about these camps, visit http://www.spacecamp.com/category.php?cat=Space

Camp is the best demonstration of moral and spiritual order—democracy is the core purpose. Children learn life skills that become habits of the heart. It is tough to be a kid these days. It is tough to be a parent. In a society where the nature of the family, the work place, and the community have changed dramatically, we can no longer assume that the natural process of growing up will provide children the experiences and the resources they need to become successful, contributing adults.

The American Camp Association, New England is dedicated to enriching the lives of children and families through quality camp experiences.

The American Camp Association, New England is a community of camp professionals who, for more than one hundred years, have joined together to share knowledge and experience and to ensure the quality of camp programs. ACA New England accredits nearly 350 day and overnight summer camps in the six New England states.

ACA conducts camps for all ages and offers various types of camps.

Day camp can begin as early as age three and is geared to children who get to experience camp and still return home each evening! They have the best of both worlds—the camp community which is built exclusively for kids and their own home which provides the security they need at a tender age. Day camp focuses on “what is right” than “what is wrong.” Day Camps typically serve children ages 3-15 during daytime only. For more information, click here.

Camp provides one of the very few links with a world larger than the consumer culture we inhabit—and day camp is one important choice in a quiver of options. The camp experience helps children and youth develop an appreciation of their place and their responsibility in a much larger universe. A preschooler—or even an older child who might be reluctant to go to overnight camp—can join a community that is created especially for her to practice growing up.

Specialty Camps offer a program for every interest. It can be found at day or resident camps and offer opportunities to concentrate on certain program areas such as horseback riding, the arts, travel, sports or computers, among others. Imagine a place where you get to be totally immersed in the thing you love to do (or want to try) the most . . . from being wrist-deep in cake batter or filming a movie to jamming all day with rock stars or learning to drive a race car. Specialty camps offer just that type of fantasy-come-true experience – from fine arts, performing arts, and chef camp, to learning a foreign language, science, engineering, motor sports . . . and much, much more. These camps have very focused programs, they typically have more intensive and professional-level instruction, and often include guest speakers, such as artists, musicians, and those who’ve made a career of that particular activity.

Many specialty camps have informal, hands-on, or immersion approaches to various academic subjects, such as math, science, or language, which may help children who struggle in a traditional classroom to learn material and develop confidence for the upcoming school year. For example, at Camp Motorsport, a race car driving specialty camp for kids ages ten to sixteen, campers participate in racing-related activities that convert abstract math and science concepts into hands-on applications—such as figuring out how resistance and drag impact making the car go faster.

Overnight / Resident / Sleepaway Camps usually serve children ages 6-17 for one to eight weeks at a time; children sleep at camp.

General Camps offer a range of activities. Many provide opportunities to focus on one or two activities while allowing campers to try a variety of others. General camps sometimes offer the opportunity to specialize in an activity.

Trip & Travel programs are often camp-based. Most involve adventure and wilderness. Campers spend most of their time traveling away from base camp.

Camps for Special Populations serve specific clientele such as children with particular medical conditions or diseases or individuals with special needs.

Space Car Camp deal more with real experience of space shuttle and its working.

Going Green and preserving environment:

ACA also encourages Children to go green. Camps across the country are encouraging children to put on their plates only what they will eat, then camps teach children about recycling by converting the leftovers into compost. The compost is then used to fertilize the fields that create food for the campers!

Many camps implement an environmental awareness program entitled, “Leave No Trace.” This program teaches and encourages children to clean up after themselves in nature, so as to not pollute the environment.

Camps create educational programs with local wildlife agencies or even the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

A Camp for Every Budget

While it’s hard to put a price tag on your child’s learning and growth, you certainly have your family’s budget to think about when you consider camp. The good news is that there is a camp program to fit nearly every budget.

For more information about fee, click here

Here are some benefits of ACA Camps:

• Every child deserves a camp experience.

The unique power of a camp experience complements and reinforces what children are taught at school, at home and at extracurricular activities — rounding out children’s development in optimal ways. Camps specialize in providing physical activity, time spent in the out-of-doors and experiences in teambuilding, athletics and the arts — activities that have been eliminated or are at risk of elimination for more and more school systems.

• Childhood is compromised without a camp experience.

Camp is vital! Camps have the capacity to change children’s lives — influencing, even transforming, their choices and chances and their characters and capabilities.

• Campers learn life lessons.

Camp memories often stay alive in people’s hearts and minds well into adulthood. Lessons include: becoming a responsible member of a group and community, personal and group decision-making, the art of compromise, resilience, how to bust out of one’s own comfort zone to try something new and many more. Campers are often attracted by a specific activity or two; they usually get an added bonus and learn something new and important about themselves at camp.

• Camp gives kids a world of good.

Expect camper growth in independence, self-esteem, leadership ability, peer relationship skills, spirituality, environmental awareness and decision-making when children attend day or resident camp. The largest study of camper outcomes in the U.S., conducted by Philiber Research Associates and ACA, confirmed these benefits of the camp experience — that camp gives kids a world of good!

ACA also offers volunteering and employment opportunities for adults.

Bette S. Bussel
Executive Director
American Camp Association, New England

Bette S. Bussel – A biography

“I had no idea when I went to summer camp at age 4 that one day I’d be in charge of thousands of campers who are looking for a positive summer camp experience, just like I was. Life is truly one big circle.”

Bette has been involved with camps since age 4, where she began as a day camper. She evolved to an overnight camper, Counselor-in-Training (CIT), Counselor, Program Director, Camp Director and is now the Executive Director of ACA New England. Bette brings a rare blend of organizational and interpersonal skills to this position, which she has held for more than 17 years. She has established herself as a person with professional competence, strong commitment and the ability to build on the established strengths and esteemed history of the regional nonprofit organization she leads.

Bette received a Bachelor of Science in Recreation Management from Ithaca College and a Master of Science in Recreation Management from the University of Maryland.

Prior to coming to ACA New England, she served as the Program Director, Teen Director, Group Services Director and Day Camp Director for the Jewish Community Center of Greater New Haven. In those roles she received a special citation from the Kovod Society of the JCC, and a Women in Leadership award from the YWCA.

Since taking over as ACA New England’s Executive Director in 1990, Bette has been honored with the New England AIC Award (1994), National AIC Award (1996), ACA National Service Award (1999), and ACA Special Recognition Award (2004).

Bette is a well-informed resource on legislative issues that impact camps throughout New England. She has been effective establishing positive relationships with legislative and regulatory bodies that monitor camps and has worked to strengthen respect of and input by camp professionals in legislative matters.

Bette serves as a member of the national ACA’s Technology Task Force, which advises all 24 regional offices of the association on the use of technology. Currently, Bette plays a leadership role on a committee which is reinventing ACA’s online camp search tool—the Find A Camp Tool.

Image via Wikipedia

Have you heard about a unique summer science camps for kids? Do you want your kids to outperform in Science and Technology? Here is a piece of information, which will propel your kids to new heights.

Northeastern University conducts STEM program by integrating Science, Technology, Education and Mathematics. The mission of STEM is to enable youth to develop and achieve their full potential through support of social, recreational programs.

STEM offers various programs at different levels and BHSSC is one of them. The ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Summer Science Camp (BHSSC) is a free, academic program funded by The Harris Foundation, that takes an active role in shaping education in students entering grade 6,7, or 8 in the fall of 2008.

The camp identifies 48 students from the greater Boston area / primarily Boston itself. It tests the application level in math / science grades / teacher recommendation / essay. Students can participate for one summer only and are supported through follow-up sessions and complimentary program such as the algebra plus camp at math power.

A 2 week residential program accommodate only 48 students in one batch. It involves field excursions; interaction with engineers, scientist, researchers, and other professionals; developing new projects; hands-on experience in relevant fields; on-campus residential experiences. This summer, STEM plans to conduct 20 such camps across US.

The camp is staffed by high quality faculty / administrators and students from the College of Arts and Science and the College of Engineering at Northeastern University, providing STEM students an opportunity to be engaged in educational outreach efforts.

This camp program was originally developed as a collaborative effort of the Harris Foundation, the Houston Independent School District, the University of Houston (UH) and the Southwestern Oklahoma State University (SWOSU), designed to support historically underserved and underrepresented students with limited opportunities.

Clare Duggan, Associate Director – STEM program, feels that STEM is critical to society’s infrastructure for the 21st century and preserving that future requires an investment, such as the BHSSC, in our youth today.

To know more about STEM programs, visit http://www.stem.neu.edu/programs.htm

Claire Duggan
Associate Director
Center for STEM Education

Claire Duggan – A biography

Claire Duggan, Associate Director, Center for STEM Education, Northeastern University; co-director, Bernard Harris Summer Science Camp Richard Harris, Co-director, Bernard Harris Summer Science Camp

Claire directs a number of teacher and student programs, including the Exxon Mobil / Bernard Harris Summer Science Camp.

Northeastern University, founded in 1898, is a private research university located in the heart of Boston. Northeastern is a leader in interdisciplinary research, urban engagement, and the integration of classroom learning with real-world experience. The university’s distinctive cooperative education program, where students alternate semesters of full-time study with semesters of paid work in fields relevant to their professional interests and major, is one of the largest and most innovative in the world. The University offers a comprehensive range of undergraduate and graduate programs leading to degrees through the doctorate in six undergraduate colleges, eight graduate schools, and two part-time divisions.

Northeastern University’s Center for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education has a mission to work with students and teachers in the Boston area. The Center for STEM education is directed by Christos Zahopolous.