Events

2017 UConn ECE French Immersion Day and Quiz Bowl Competition

Posted on January 9, 2018November 13, 2018 by Hinckley, Jessica

On November 1, 2017, UConn Early College Experience held this year’s French Immersion Day and Quiz Bowl Competition. We enjoyed the company of Nathan Hale Ray High School, Coventry High School, Lewis S. Mills High School, RHAM High School, Portland High School and Norwich Free Academy ECE French students as they competed for the 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 Norwich Free Academy 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 broadening your French expertise.

2016 UConn ECE French Immersion Day and Quiz Bowl Competition

Posted on January 9, 2017September 23, 2019 by Hinckley, Jessica

On November 3, 2016, students from the following high schools, Cheshire, Rockville, Coventry, EO Smith, RHAM, Glastonbury, Portland and Southington participated in the 2016 UConn ECE French Immersion Day and Quiz Bowl competition. The day was full of education and fun for these UConn ECE French students and their instructors. First place went to Glastonbury, second place went to E.O. Smith and third place went to Rockville High School. Congratulations!

New ECE Student Art Show in 2017

Posted on January 9, 2017November 15, 2018 by Hinckley, Jessica

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 Hinckley, Jessica

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.

UConn ECE Marine Sciences Symposium

Posted on January 9, 2016November 16, 2018 by Hinckley, Jessica

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 Hinckley, Jessica

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.

5th annual UConn Avery Point Cardboard Boat Race

Posted on January 9, 2016November 16, 2018 by Hinckley, Jessica

by Logan Irmscher, Class of ‘17

The 2015-2016 academic year is off to a strong start. On September 23, 2015, the ECE Marine Sciences and Maritime Studies students participated in the 5th annual UConn Avery Point Cardboard Boat Race. The event is always a fun and exciting time filled with lots of laughs. Participating in this year ’s event were seven partner high schools: Waterford High School, Marine Science Magnet High School, Science and Technology Magnet High School of Southeastern Connecticut, Manchester High School, South Windsor High School, University High School and Stonington High School. The team from Marine Science Magnet High School in Groton won first place in the UConn ECE Division, however they were defeated by the UConn student entry in the championship race.

UConn Early College Experience Events

Posted on January 9, 2015September 23, 2019 by Hinckley, Jessica

4th annual UConn Avery Point Cardboard Boat Race

2014-2015 ECE student events are in full swing. On October 2, 2014, the ECE Marines Sciences and Maritime Studies students participated in the 4th annual UConn Avery Point Cardboard Boat Race. What an exciting time! Participating were Montville High School, Waterford High School, South Windsor High School, Manchester High School, Science and Technology Magnet High School of Southeastern Connecticut and University High School of Science and Engineering. Montville High School won first place in the UConn ECE division and went on to the Avery Point college division, where they again, took first place.

UConn Water Pollution Control Facility & Water Reclamation Facility Tour

George Wine’s UConn ECE class from Glastonbury High School came to the UConn Storrs campus to tour the UConn Water Pollution Control Facility & Water Reclamation Facility led by Supervisor Todd Matthewson.

2014 UConn ECE French Immersion Day and Quiz Bowl Competition

Students from Portland High School, Glastonbury High School, Edwin O. Smith High School, Southington High School, Wheeler High School, Woodstock Academy, Cheshire High School and Coventry High School participated in the 2014 UConn ECE French Immersion Day and Quiz Bowl Competition. First place went to Woodstock Academy, second place went to Southington High School and third place was Portland High School. Congratulations!