STVM

St. Vincent-St. Mary STEM Designated St. Vincent-St. Mary High School (STVM), recognized statewide as leading the way in science and technology, has just received the official designation of a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) school by the Ohio Department of Education. As one of 44 schools and the ONLY Catholic high school in the state of Ohio, STVM joins eight Catholic elementary schools (all in the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland!) who have earned the STEM designation. Our STEM proposal was submitted to and reviewed by the STEM Committee and the Ohio STEM Learning Network under the governance of the Ohio Department of Education. "is designation puts an official title on the excellent science and technology work our school has been doing for years. Some of our local Catholic grade schools also hold this designation, including St. Vincent and St. Sebastian, so our own STEM designation makes STVM the ideal high school choice for students coming through those elementary STEM programs," explained STVM Principal Robert Brownfield. Science and technology has always been at the forefront of learning at STVM. In 2004, we opened our Center for Science and Technology (CST) which is still a premier center for inquiry-based learning using state-of-the-art technology. Adding to the momentum that the CST added to our curriculum, in 2009, STVM partnered with e University of Akron to afford our students the opportunity to learn the scientific process through hands-on experience. Approximately two-thirds of the students who have participated in this program have gone on to select a science major or focus on engineering. With pioneering programs like robotics, rocketry and environmental studies in our outdoor garden and following the model of our University of Akron partnership, our STEM designation will helps us grow new programs and foster new relationships to further our innovation. "I am so delighted to have received this designation, as it recognized the excellent work that our teachers do in all curricular areas, not just the STEM fields," said Brownfield. "A common misconception is that STEM schools focus exclusively on mathematics and science; this is certainly not the case. In fact, one of the most significant parts of the STEM designation is having a robust, interdisciplinary humanities program, another hallmark at STVM for many, many years. Essentially what this designation does is certify us as having a cutting edge program in preparing our students for STEM career fields." Our school, our state and our nation have recognized that it is critical for schools to foster intellectual, entrepreneurial and technical talent. rough extensive studies involving leaders in government, industry and institutes of higher education a correlation has been recognized between future economic growth and prosperity and the success of our schools to drive the relevance of science and mathematics. As STVM utilizes this designation we will continue to be true to our mission and to be a vital part of the Akron community. ACADEMICS STVM Students Attend ASGSR in Seattle Research runs in our family. Bob Engels, STVM Science teacher and Rocket and Robotics Team advisor, travelled with STVM students Zichao Hu, David Zhang, Liam Squire and alumni Mike Metzger VM76 and Dennis Kelly V66 to Seattle, Washington to attend the 2017 Annual American Society for Gravitational and Space Research (ASGSR) Meeting this past week- end. "ASGSR is a non-profit founded in 1984 to foster and promote research, education and pro- fessional development in the multidisciplinary fields of gravitational research. ASGSR brings to- gether a diverse group of scientists and engineers to encourage an exchange of ideas bridging discov- ery and invention through biological and physical science research and technology in space and gravita- tional sciences" (asgsr.org). Mr. Metzger, CEO of Pay- Scale, hosted the STVM students who attended. NASA Expulsion Team Meets the Challenge Akron, Ohio-St. Vincent-St. Mary High School (STVM) Juniors Fiona Gaffney, Jacob Kulig, Andrew Ewald, Deviana Lal, Danil Bagin, Brad- ford Fram, Emily Grayson, Anne Hanlon, Greta Puhalla, Nick Llewel- lyn, Evan Tipton and Christian Wierzbicki are accepted into NASA's Expulsion Challenge with an opportunity to attend the 2018 Meeting of the American Society for Gravitational and Space Research (ASGSR) in Washington, D.C. e NASA competition challenges teams of high school students from across the country to design and build objects that sink in water with normal gravity, to then be expelled as far as possible out of the water during free fall from NASA's 2.2 Second Drop Tower. e expulsion must result from the hydrophobic (water repellent) surface of each object. e STVM team prepared a proposal describing how they would design and test the objects which included conceptual drawings. Now, they will build their unique test objects using 3D design soware and 3D man- ufacturing. e students will then team up with professors from e University of Akron to coat the objects with a variety of hydrophobic polymers. Once coated, students will test the objects in-house by con- structing their own drop tower using high speed video to optimize their designs and coatings. e objects will finally be sent to NASA where they will be put in vessels of water and dropped 24 meters (79 feet). During the fall, the objects and water will experience 2.2 seconds of apparent near-weightlessness or microgravity. Student teams will analyze video results from the testing and prepare a written report to be submitted to NASA for evaluation. NASA invites the top performing teams to present their results at a student poster session in Washington, D.C. T H E C O N N E C T I O N 4

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