UConn ECE 2016 Small Grant Winners

Posted on January 9, 2017November 15, 2018 by

By Magdalena Narozniak

For the first time, the UConn Early College Experience offered Small Grants for Classroom and Program

Development to our high school partners. The office set aside $10,000 for the UConn ECE community available to high school instructors through a competitive grant process. The purpose of the grants is to

create an opportunity for classroom and community development for a UConn ECE course. The classroom grant can be used for books, technology, equipment or other materials that enable students to learn the subject matter or skills. Community grants may include projects that have a large impact on the surrounding community, including projects that eliminate an eyesore, make communities healthier, or foster creativity. Applications must have the support of students, principals, and UConn faculty coordinators.

The office received fifteen incredibly competitive applications from schools all over Connecticut. Applicants sought funds for textbooks and advanced pieces of equipment like Spectrophotometers, miniPCRs, and a theremin, campus visits, and a series of nationally recognized speakers. Projects for the community included community gardens, a butterfly sanctuary, a project targeting the hygiene of young impoverished women, and a solar panel system. Out of these incredible proposals, six winners were fully funded and two applications were partially funded.

Among them:

William Schultz and several other instructors of Enfield High School applied for the purchase of a solar

panel system and additional physical outputs to be used in the classroom and in community outreach events for demonstrations and experiments relating to renewable energy conversations. Experiments will include electrical, chemical, and mechanical energy conversions in the UConn ECE Chemistry, Biology, Environmental Science and Physics courses.

April Kelley of Laurelton Hall at Academy of Our Lady of Mercy applied for funds to build a hoop-

style greenhouse in the corner of the campus designated for green learning. The intention is to use the greenhouse as an outdoor classroom, to let students participate in a farm-to-table experience and to allow community gardening, fostering stronger ties between students and senior citizens living in the senior complex next door. Students of UConn ECE Environmental Science will construct the greenhouse.

Lisa-Brit Walhberg and Sarah King of the Master’s School proposed a collaborative community-based learning project designed to address the psychosocial effects of war and resettlement on refugees in Connecticut. UConn ECE Political Science and English students will be instructed in journal making, journal writing, and art activities to foster and develop global citizenship, social justice and diverse cultural awareness. Students will be trained through IRIS (Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services) of New Haven about the Syrian crisis and plan community activities involving Syrian refugees.

And briefly, Jan Frazier of Waterford High School received funding for the publication of a minitextbook, edited and put together by students of UConn ECE Latin. Equipment purchases of

spectrophotometers to upgrade laboratory facilities were also approved for Jane Carey Lyon of Windham High School and Sharon Geyer of Woodstock Academy. A joint application of Jennifer Gampel at Masuk High School and Jamie Cosgrove at Christian Heritage Academy for the purchase of a miniPCR and a PTC Taster Lab was also approved.

The office will be providing grants again next year. The deadline to apply will be October 15, 2017. We encourage all our schools to apply. To be eligible for a grant, applicants must be instructors of a currently running UConn ECE course and complete the entire grant application available on our website.

All projects must be completed within the school year.

Congratulations to all our winners!

We look forward to seeing the progress on the projects.

New ECE Student Art Show in 2017

Posted on January 9, 2017November 15, 2018 by

UConn ECE and the UConn School of Fine Arts are pleased to announce they will be co-sponsoring a prestigious art show featuring the work of UConn ECE students. The showing will take place in the gallery at the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts from May 15th until July 15th with a gala opening on Saturday, May 27th from 2:00 – 5:00 p.m. More information about the show and opening event will be available on our website in January.

Events: Knights Paddle to Gold

Posted on January 9, 2017September 23, 2019 by

By Randy Philavong, Emily Wheeler, Catherine Bedson, and Melody Crane

Groton, CT- Ellington High School students claimed victory in UConn’s annual Cardboard Boat Races on

September 22, 2016 at UConn Avery Point campus.

UConn Early College Experience (ECE) students from all around the state gathered to compete in the university’s sixth annual cardboard boat competition. Ellington High School received its first invitation to participate in the event after the competition initially began.

Three to four days prior to the race, ECE Physics students at Ellington High designed and built their boats only using cardboard and duct tape. Students looked back the design process as difficult but highly successful.

“It was an enjoyable experience building the Piece of Ship, but picturing what the boat would end up looking like was difficult.” said Cat Bedson, senior at Ellington High School. “There were so many different components but it ended up coming together nicely!”

The students produced four, of many, cardboard boats to compete in the race: The Bass Kickers, Piece

of Ship, E=m(sea)2, and Shake Your Boaty, Nauti Buoy.

Ellington High School’s ECE Physics teacher, Justin DeCormier, explains the event as a great opportunity to teach students about the physics revolving around buoyancy in a competitive way.

“This is a grand opportunity for us to practice team building and real world applications of classroom

knowledge, engineering, teamwork, and focus,” said DeCormier.

The race included four heats of cardboard boats. Current UConn Physics’ students were to participate in the first heat. Followed by two heats of high school students and the fourth heat being the championship race.

Colby Unterstein, senior at Ellington, piloted Piece of Ship that started the race with a commanding lead and maintained that lead by finishing first in heat one. Unfortunately, the other Ellington boat, Shake Your Boaty, Nauti Buoy, could not finish in the top three of the heat.

In heat two, Ellington’s E=m(sea)2 looked to place second in the race but in the final stretch, pilots, Tessa Webb and Matt Phillips, made a dramatic comeback giving Ellington another first place ranking. Sadly, another Ellington boat could not participate in the race due to their boat sinking.

In the final heat, Piece of Ship, E=m(sea)2, and other boats from other schools competed for the overall champion. Unterstein pulled another commanding lead as Piece of Ship became the only candidate to stay afloat, while the other boats, sadly, fell apart or sank.

Unterstein commented that his experience as the pilot meant a lot to him and his school.

“It was a true honor to win such a prestigious award for my school.” said Unterstein. “I know it meant

a lot to the students and teachers involved.”

There is no doubt Ellington’s competitive spirit has helped them achieve success.

Windsor High Schools POLS102 Students Participate in CTKidGovernor Program

Posted on January 9, 2017September 23, 2019 by

By Christopher Todd, UConn ECE POLS Instructor

In an effort to increase civic participation during the 2016-17 school year, Windsor Public Schools decided to have 5th grade classrooms districtwide participate in the 2016 Connecticut Kid Governor

program. Sponsored by the Connecticut Public Affair Network and the Connecticut Old State House, CTKidGovernor coincides with Election Day in November, and offers each school in Connecticut the opportunity to enter one student candidate into a statewide election that other 5th graders vote in. Classes can nominate a building- wide candidate to run for office, as well as vote in the statewide election.

What was unique about Windsor’s participation in the CTKidGovernor program was that students from Windsor High School’s AP Government & Politics and UConn ECE POLS 1602 courses were assigned to 5th grade classrooms across the district. Acting as “Campaign Consultants”, the 12th grade students met with Brian Cofrancesco, Head of Education for Connecticut’s Old State House to gain an overview of the CTKidGovernor program and the subsequent resources available. Throughout October, Windsor High School students prepared and presented two in-person lessons which they delivered to their assigned

5th grade classes on a number of topics including an overview of the CTKidGovernor program, an

overview of the 3 Branches of State Government and how to design a successful campaign platform. In addition to the in-person lessons, WHS students created 5-10 minute mini-video lessons and corresponding materials on the Role of the Governor and Choosing a Campaign Issue which were shared with their teacher to use at their convenience. Each 5th Grade classroom and building conducted their own primary race and held building-wide elections. The 12th grade ‘Campaign Consulting’ teams for each building winner returned to their classroom to help the candidate complete their video submission for the statewide competition.

In the end, the partnership between 12th grade Government & Politics students and 5th grade classrooms proved to be an incredibly worthwhile experience. It provided an opportunity for high schoolers to not only interact with younger students from across the district, but more importantly it forced them to engage with the content material becoming both the expert and the instructor simultaneously.

UConn Course News and Certification Application Process

Posted on January 9, 2017November 15, 2018 by

By Stefanie Malinoski

The deadline for applications for certification for 2017-2018 to be submitted is January 31, 2017. Last year we had well over 250 applications for certification across all disciplines. Our January deadline has worked out incredibly well for our planning purposes in ECE as well as with our partners in the University Registrar’s office who assist us with course creation in Compass. It’s never too early to think about becoming an ECE instructor or expanding your current certification.

Over the last two years we have added more than ten new classes, to the program with more classes coming on board each year. These newer classes include: AH 2001: Medical Terminology, CE 2110: Applied Mechanics I, ECON 1000: Essentials of Economics, HRTS 1007: Introduction to Human Rights, CHIN 1114: Intermediate Chinese II, and PHIL 1101: Problems of Philosophy. With the expansion of the program we look forward to a streamlined certification cycle with many new partners.

If you or someone you know are interested in applying for certification, please review the information about courses offered through UConn Early College Experience on our website at www.ece.uconn.edu. Potential instructors are also encouraged to review the certification requirements and process for certification. In addition, a representative from the ECE office may be available to schedule a school visit to help encourage the recruitment of qualified instructors. It’s an exciting time to become a certified UConn instructor!

A Glimpse into UConn’s Pre-College Summer Program: A Student’s Perspective

Posted on January 9, 2017September 23, 2019 by

By Erin Donohue

As one of 256 rising high school juniors and seniors participating in UConn’s Pre-College Summer Program, Becca was able to get a true feel for life as a college student. Leaving the comfort of family and

friends, Becca was both anxious and excited about living away from home for the first time. After a swift check-in process, Becca and her parents were shown to her surprisingly spacious and air conditioned room by a member of the residential staff, where she met her program roommate, Annie. Once her parents left, the reality hit that Becca was now on her own, and as she looked at her class schedule, which included her academic area of choice, Digital Media: Game Design, each morning for 3 hours (3 hours!?) and options for daily afternoon workshops, she felt uneasy about her week ahead. Although the upbeat, friendly residential staff made students feel comfortable and welcome at student orientation, Becca was still apprehensive about her morning class.

The next morning, Becca walked and chatted with Annie on the way to the dining hall where breakfast

was being served. She was eager to get to class and learn something new. Her instructor was passionate

and enthusiastic about the material he was teaching. He immediately engaged and guided students in

the hands-on design of their own individualized game after showing them the basics. Becca could not

help but notice the small number of students in her class and felt less intimidated about asking questions

and expressing concerns about course material that she was unsure of and even the transition to learning at the college level. After lunch, all students attended the afternoon workshop, a lively game of Bafa Bafa: an interactional experience that promotes cultural diversity and awareness through role play of pretend cultures. Although she enjoyed morning class, the strangeness of engaging in role play with students she barely knew overwhelmed Becca, who was visibly upset as she left the workshop. After speaking to a faculty member, Becca was able to reframe the situation and make the best of a situation in which she felt vulnerable.

Becca would not know it at the time, but this moment of uncertainty, anxiety, and frustration was pivotal

in her transformation in maturity and confidence as the program progressed. Becca realized that she may not like some aspects of college, but she would make the best of them and be the best version of herself in situations she could control. The remainder of the week, Becca excelled in her Game Design course, and even made friends with a number of students in her class. She mingled with students from other academic areas like Sports Medicine and Creative Writing at fun, focused workshops on choosing a college major, writing a college application essay, and how to market yourself in college. She even ran through an inflatable obstacle course thanks to UConn’s ROTC program. Afternoon free time was spent lounging on the lawn, playing unorganized sports, and checking out the UConn Bookstore. Evening hours were spent with program students eating ice cream at the Dairy Bar, taking walks through UConn’s scenic campus, or listening to “jam sessions” with instruments that students brought from home.

Students in UConn’s Pre-College Summer program have all gone through experiences similar to Becca where they have encountered small or large moments of epiphany and subsequent personal growth. This ability of the program to provide students with a genuine experience of college life is a reason for its growth from a humble beginning in 2014 by former Program Director Neal Olderman. Since 2014, the length of the program has doubled from a total of 2 to 4 weeks, and student numbers as well as number of academic areas have quadrupled thanks to Olderman’s efforts. In 2014, all students attended the program for just one week, while in 2016 students enrolled for multiple weeks: 13 students attended for 2 weeks, 1 student for 3 weeks, and 1 student attended the program all 4 weeks. UConn’s Pre-College Summer program also expanded its national and international reach in 2016. Students attended the program from New England states down to Florida and across the country from Colorado and California, as well as across borders from Canada, Puerto Rico, Colombia, and China, making it the most diverse group of students yet.

The success of UConn’s Pre-College Summer program is truly a team effort. Ambitious undergraduate and graduate students serve as role models to program students and work as residential staff to support

and inform students regarding their questions about college life. Additionally, in the spring of 2016, Nella Quasnitschka worked alongside Neal Olderman to transition into the role of Program Director.

Quasnitschka states, “As PCS continues to grow, we are adding new academic cohorts in exciting areas of

study along with 2-hour blocks of afternoon classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Students will be able to

register for classes that will allow them to innovate, create, think, and get hands on experiences in classrooms, laboratories, and other buildings that you’d only find at a top University like UConn. With an increase of students registering for multiple sessions, we plan to offer more two week sessions.”

It is hard to believe that UConn’s Pre-College Summer Program is entering its fourth year in the summer of 2017. The 4 week program will run from the beginning of July through the beginning of August 2017, and program registration will open the end of November 2016.

For more information, please visit http://precollege-summer.uconn.edu/ or contact our office at 860-486-0149.

National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP) 2015 Conference: Reaching New Heights

Posted on January 9, 2016September 23, 2019 by

By Melanie Ochoa, Program Assistant for Academic Standards

The 2015 NACEP Conference was held in the Mile High City – Denver, Colorado. With record-breaking

attendance, this year 850 concurrent enrollment partners from 46 states and the District of Columbia attended the conference.

The three day conference, Reaching New Heights, featured over 60 sessions focusing on the introduction of new broad-reaching ideas and practices; reinforcing specific program effective practices, innovations, research, and policies; as well as facilitating open discussion-based sessions to allow participants to process information while engaging in conversations. The sessions offered a great value by learning and sharing concurrent enrollment practices while meeting peers from across the nation.

Five UConn ECE staff members had the opportunity to attend the conference. Magdalena Narozniak, Program Coordinator for Research and Development, presented “NACEP Evaluation: Why and How” along with William Newell, Associate Director, from Syracuse University. This session targeted the NACEP Evaluation Standards by highlighting the challenge of why and how evaluations can spark meaningful change in a program from collected data. Brian Boecherer, Executive Director, and Tim Stetter, Director and NACEP President-elect, held the “Sunrise, Sunset: Considerations for Piloting and Phasing out CEP Courses” session. Concurrent enrollment courses can come and go due to campus changes or high school requests, as these changes can be very difficult this session focused on key considerations and best practices for piloting new courses and phasing out current courses.

As always, we work together to ensure that our courses offered at the high schools are as rigorous as the courses taught at the University of Connecticut for student success.

UConn ECE Surpasses 2013-14 Enrollment Record

Posted on January 9, 2016November 16, 2018 by

In the 2013-14 academic year, UConn Early College Experience hit what we thought might be an enrollment plateau. We reached the record high of 10,000 students enrolled in ECE courses. We then faced the challenge of decreasing overall high school populations, and the new and unfamiliar online Compass registration system was launched. Taking these challenges into account, we were satisfied with only a slight dip in enrollments for the 2014-15 year, bringing in over 9,800 students.

Not ones to rest on our laurels, our 2015 strategic plan looked at ways to continue to grow our program faced with the challenges at hand. The quest became two-fold. First, we sought to rebuild relationships and recoup enrollments lost by the transition to online registration. UConn ECE staff members made dozens of “house calls” this registration season to assist schools and students that were struggling with the new process. The second strategy was to grow course offerings by expanding existing programs, and by bringing new school partners into the ECE family.

The strategy worked! The 2015-16 academic year saw a record 10,812 students enroll in UConn ECE

courses. Many schools have increased enrollments due a higher comfort level with the online registration system while other schools have added new courses. We also have seventeen new or returning high schools offering ECE courses this year.

With more and more focus on the benefits of dual and concurrent enrollment at the state and national level, we will continue to expand our relationships and make process improvements to insure continued

growth and success for students for years to come.

UConn ECE Marine Sciences Symposium

Posted on January 9, 2016November 16, 2018 by

by Anna Tworzyanski, Ledyard High School NOSB team member

At 8:30 AM, I and two of my fellow classmates pulled up to the UConn Avery Point Marine Sciences building overlooking a choppy Long Island Sound. When we entered, we were greeted with posters from other participating high schools covered with an array of research projects: everything from the relationship between temperature and jellyfish breeding to the use of a floating barge for passive desalination. Since the UConn ECE program assists in bridging the gap between learning basic skills and concepts in high school and solving real-life problems in higher education and beyond, it came as no

surprise that that was also the focus of this conference.

My school, Ledyard High School, was the first to present on our research of the changing shape and topography of Bushy Point Beach with respect to Superstorm Sandy in 2012. Spending a day on the shore and relating our findings to an event that all of us had experienced was already a fun class

project, but the opportunity to share our research with other high schools taking a UConn marine sciences course and those much farther ahead in their education made the experience even more fulfilling

In the demonstrations that followed, each presenter displayed a lot of enthusiasm in sharing their work with us and made the material fairly easy to understand even though it required much more specific knowledge than what we’ve been exposed to in high school.One graduate student even allowed

us into his nearby lab to see his work environment. During the next presentation, a UConn undergraduate student informed us of his experiences in the Sea Education Association Semester

and Research at Sea Program in which he spent several months on a boat in the South Pacific studying pteropod special distribution and shell condition with respect to pH. This practical knowledge ties in with the biological and chemical curricula we had in our class, especially in terms of the effect of global warming on the ocean. While it’s no question that I and my classmates understand the importance of oceanic research and development, we don’t all necessarily want to become oceanology majors. One of

the most meaningful parts of what this student shared with us was that many of those in the program with him were pursuing other studies. It was intriguing to me that I could maintain some attachment to the ocean sciences field even while working towards a different degree. Continuing on that thread, was doctoral candidate, Steven Schmidt, who took the time to explain to us his unique path from earth and planetary sciences to meteorology to conducting research on stratification and hypoxia in Long Island Sound. It was inspiring and reassuring to hear that although our educational paths may not end up where we thought, we can still utilize elements of the different fields we are exposed to during our education.

A couple of hours before lunch, we had a break to look at the other posters and talk with the students who had created them. The level of detail in the research and conducting of these high school experiments was impressive. I talked to one student from Bridgeport Regional Vocational Aquaculture

Center who aspires to work with Doctors without Borders, an international medical humanitarian organization. She had read about the use of trehalose, a carbohydrate found in seaweed, to stabilize vaccines for transportation to developing countries. After learning about phycoerythrin in red algae in her marine science class, she decided to use trehalose to stabilize phycoerythrin in a solar cell and took that project all the way to the Intel Science Talent Search competition. Another student analyzed the feathers and feces of cormorants and other piscivorous birds for toxic heavy metals using a scanning electron microscope and a spectrophotometer. It was amazing to see students who are at the same point in their education as myself and my classmates, who are able to take on real-world problems like renewable energy and pollution.

The day culminated in the launching of a balloon to collect atmospheric data, making use of thermal updraft. We were first briefed on the physics of the balloon and the critical importance of atmospheric data in oceanology. Afterwards, a few students helped in inflating the balloon and releasing it into

the air. Watching the balloon quickly drift past the nearby buildings was the perfect ending to the day; it reminded us that our marine science knowledge will take us as far as we want to go.

French Immersion Day and Quiz Bowl Competition

Posted on January 9, 2016September 23, 2019 by

by Alissa Lancia, UConn Class of ‘18

On November 5, 2015, UConn Early College Experience held this year’s French Immersion Day and Quiz Bowl Competition. We enjoyed the company of Cheshire High School, Coventry High School, Glastonbury High School, Portland High School, RHAM High School, Southington High School, and Terryville High School ECE French students as they competed for Quiz Bowl Champion. Taking home first place in this year’s Quiz Bowl Competition was RHAM High School, followed by Portland High School in second place, and Cheshire High School in third place. The competition put the knowledge of the French ECE students to the test, but they all performed well and showed their love for the course. Congratulations to all participants for taking on the challenge of French Quiz Bowl

broadening your French expertise.