ECE News To Know CATCH-UP CORNER ANEWSLETTER FOR THE HIGHLIGHTS Today is one of those beautiful UCONN ECE COMMUNITY SPRING 2010 spring days that remind us that the robins, the leaves and the sun will return to Connecticut soon. It was a long and tiring winter for many of us, as we all grappled with short- Globalization Conference Goes “Live” via Webcast ages in staffing, funding and overall time to do it all. We understand the On Wednesday, March 31, powerpoint presentation on the said RHAM High School Spanish time commitment that our high UConn Early College Experience topic “Globalization’s Effect on instructor, Amy Nocton. “At one school instructors and administra- came together with the UConn Education” and then field ques- point we noticed that 46 people tors dedicate to this program and Center for Globalization and tions from the audience. Teams we know just how valuable this is were viewing the live video Commerce and the Stamford were asked to choose a country to our success. Instructors over- stream. It was great to be able to Chamber of Commerce to host to focus on and create a defined whelmingly attend UConn ECE provide this service to the stu- professional development events the annual ECE Globalization thesis as part of their presenta- dents who were unable to join us and conferences. More and more Conference at the UConn Stam- tion. in Stamford,” said UConn ECE high schools are making arrange- ford campus. Over 100 students This year, for the first time, the Continued on Page 5 ments to bring their UConn ECE representing five partner high students to campus to take advan- Globalization schools took part in a day filled tage of a lecture or a library tuto- Conference rial. While we all struggle with the with student presentations and was able to be constant juggling act of being an round table discussions led by viewed live via educator, you have all made a UConn faculty and Stamford webcast. conscious decision to raise the bar business leaders. Participating “Thanks to the to a whole new level. Thank you for high schools included Bridgeport dedicating your time and taking live video Regional Vocational Aquaculture advantage of the new opportunities streaming, two UConn ECE is providing its part- School, Brien McMahon High of my students ners. We too will continue to try to School, Fairfield Warde High who were sick, set the bar at a whole new School, RHAM High School and many col- height…. Frank S. Bunnell High School. leagues, and Each high school was required to our mentors in INSIDE THIS ISSUE: put together a four-person team Europe were Natalia Metwally’s Spanish course to conduct a fifteen minute all able to be part of the day,” ECE Class Wins Big 2 celebrates their first place win. for the Environment Catching Up With 3 ECE Students UConn Published in First Book on Concurrent Enrollment ECE Instructor Wins 4 Prestigious Award Later this year, Syracuse Univer- between household income and with a total of 40 students. sity Press will be publishing a student participation in UConn Clearly participation is different in High School Latin 4 book on concurrent enrollment ECE. He used data from student the two schools,” Boecherer says. Students Visit UConn entitled, “Bridging the High enrollment, courses per high Using all the variables offers a School-College Gap: The Role of school, and the average number more accurate picture of participa- ECE Releases New 5 Concurrent Enrollment”. The of students per course to under- tion in UConn ECE. High School Rubric book is a compilation of chapters stand participation rates at part- By using linear regressions the from different scholars that will ner high schools. Median house- study suggests many interesting Mother and Daughter 6 focus on the access and hold income data came from the trends in participation, but the Redefine HDFS opportunities that concurrent Connecticut Economic Resource most interesting is that student enrollment delivers to students. Center, Inc. “There are high ECE Welcomes Class 7 Associate Director, Brian schools that offer one course and Continued on Page 6 of 2010 Boecherer, one of the chapter have 20 students and there are authors, studied the relationship also high schools with 12 courses P A G E 2 Bulkeley ECE Class Wins 2010 ‘Live Green, Win Green’ Contest By Deborah Davis, ECE Envi- recycle 80% of its waste. They prize money. At a school-wide ronmental Science Instructor, received permission to conduct assembly featuring the national Bulkeley High School a poll of the student body non-profit Alliance for Climate Bulkeley High School's ECE/AP regarding recycling attitudes. Education (ACE), the student Environmental Science class The goal was to see if making body was invited to contribute recently won the 2009 Con- recycling bins more accessible to the decision-making process. necticut Light & Power’s "Live and convenient would improve ACE's Connecticut educator, Green, Win Green" contest attitudes and habits. (The data Julian Rodrguez-Drix, for their essay and video was analyzed by Wendy presented a lively interactive evaluating their school's Jackwin’s AP Statistics class.) multimedia presentation that environmental practices. Recycling at a facility the size of addressed the science behind Students determined that Bulkeley can have a significant climate change, with an Bulkeley could recycle up to environmental impact. Take emphasis on finding solutions. Recycling at a 85% of their current cafeteria drink cans, for example. Con- An Action Team was formed waste, and proposed a recy- later that same day when a facility the size of sider that if only half of the stu- cling and promotional plan to dent body throws out a drink group of students met to Bulkeley can have implement at their school. can daily, that amounts to 500 discuss how to move BHS Bulkeley's ECE/AP Environ- recyclable cans per day. Over a forward. a significant mental Science class was one 180-day school year, this trans- Considerations being discussed of 11 high schools who submit- lates to 90,000 cans that can by the students include obtain- impact. Take drink ted a two-minute video and a either be recycled, or end up in ing recyclable trays for the 1000-word essay, both of cans for example. a landfill. Although the numbers cafeteria, which would drop the which depict Bulkeley's efforts speak for themselves, the cafeteria landfill contribution Consider that if to become more environmen- students decided to carry the down to a mere 5%. That tally friendly. Bulkeley received message further. would in turn reduce the only half of the the $20,000 grant grand prize electricity required to run the in a ceremony prior to an ACE garbage compactor, and the student body presentation held in February Due to the group's efforts, today recycling bins join the garbage amount of garbage which has to throws out a drink at the school. Their entry can be hauled away, although the be viewed at cans in the cafeteria. In the hall- ways, new garbage cans also sit trade-off of using water to daily, that www.clpenvironments.com . side by side with recycling bins, wash the trays has to be evalu- amounts to 500 in addition to the recycling ated. Redesigning the custodial Bulkeley's ECE/AP Environ- boxes in the classrooms. Signs carts will make it easier for the recyclable cans per mental Science class began by have been posted at key custodial staff as recycling in assessing the school's recycling locations to help develop the building catches on. The day. habits, and then presented school-wide recycling habits. students are also going to their findings at a faculty meet- evaluate the bulbs used for the ing. The students' preliminary Now comes the hard part: emergency lighting system to research revealed that the deciding how to best use the see about reducing their energy cafeteria had the potential to usage. Before the year is over, Bulkeley High School can From left to right: Deborah expect big changes as these Davis. Brandon Elvas, Magda- motivated students nudge their school towards a greener lyn Rodan, Gerson Mendoza, future. Gissella Jimenez, Whitney Vitale, Danny Castillo, Jassica Mahedo and Saida Cooke ECE NEWS TO KNOW ANEWSLETTER FOR THE UCONN ECE COMMUNITY P A G E 3 ECE Student Emily Fisler Helps The World Get Greener Emily Fisler, a current senior at netic Development when she began scholarships or internships as you Daniel Hand High School, is an ECE looking for an internship that can,” says Fisler. “You can also ask “...put yourself student with a particular interest in stressed environmental awareness. your teachers and guidance coun- out there and the sciences. Over the past school After discovering the company selors about available internships; year, Emily has had the opportunity worked with solar energy (among they are generally happy to help.” apply to as many to take part in an exciting study at other renewable resources), she Aside from her research experi- Magnetic Development in Madison, knew the opportunity was a good ence, Emily also received 4,500 scholarships or Connecticut. Under the guidance of fit. Since beginning her internship, dollars in scholarship money and internships that entrepreneur Mark Bergander, Emily has worked on various ex- was mentioned in the New Haven Emily has assisted in the develop- periments and even began revising a Register in an article about Mag- you can…” ment of a newer, more efficient Physics textbook that Bergander netic Development’s projects. refrigerating and air conditioning has written. system. The new concept, which Emily plans to pursue the sciences Emily and Mark uses solar heat instead of electricity in college and intends to become Bergander discussing to power its systems, has the po- involved in chemical engineering.