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GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — In a science classroom crammed with projects, posters, small desks and the odd guinea pig or two, about two dozen or so middle school students scurry from one huddled group to another. They shout ideas across the room, shyly approach teacher’s aide Therese Moran for supplies and advice, but are otherwise deeply immersed in their project for that afternoon.
Your typical school science class? Not really. These kids are part of West Middle School’s MESA Club, which itself is part of Colorado MESA (Mathemathics, Engineering, Science Achievement), a statewide after-school program targeting low-income, minority and female K-12 students to encourage them to pursue science and engineering careers. The nonprofit program is organized by the Colorado Minority Engineering Association.
Moran, a District 51 veteran and a MESA Club adviser for 15 years, works alongside eighth-grade science teacher Heidi Brungardt to supervise and develop programs for the students. The club meets every Monday after school in Brungardt’s classroom for 40 minutes. On this particular afternoon, the students are building miniature homes out of cereal boxes and insulating them using foil and other materials. Later on they’ll measure their houses’ energy usage. The goal? To see who could make the most energy-efficient “home.”
This is not your father’s science class, and that’s exactly the point.
The MESA students — a mix of sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders — will move on to working on more complex, sophisticated projects in anticipation of the state competitions in Denver. Brungardt and Moran offer them advice and tips, but otherwise the kids design and think through these projects on their own, with the eager help of their fellow MESA classmates.
“MESA is an inquiry-based program,” Brungardt explained. “We tell them, ‘Here are your supplies. Go figure it out.’ And we’ll help them obviously, but they really figure this stuff out. They’re really independent thinkers. And this is something here that the program does right. It’s good to see them get so excited about it.”
One of the things that Brungardt especially enjoys is the chance to see her students’ intellectual abilities blossom in the three years they spend in the club.
“As an eighth-grade teacher, I only see my eighth-grade students for one year. But in the MESA program, we work with them for three years, and it’s so neat to see them progress. We push them into harder competitions, like sixth-graders build a little solar car, and then as eighth-graders they build the hydrogen fuel cell car.”
The students participate in various fundraising projects throughout the year to raise money for their participation in the program, especially the expenses associated with traveling to competitions and field trips.
“We sell snow cones, we sell snacks after school and before school,” Moran said. “We do a fundraiser with the school district where we decorate tables for a school district function. At Christmas time we sell poinsettias.”
Another fundraising project the students are beginning to do is to assist people holding yard sales. They’ve only just begun offering this service, but Moran is pleased with the feedback she’s received from the students.
“My friend was selling her house and downsizing. She was like, ‘You know, I’m just gonna toss all this stuff. I just can’t even think about doing a yard sale. I don’t have the time for it.’ And I said, ‘You know, we’ll do it for you. You can give us a percentage of what you make at the yard sale, and we’ll do it for you.”
True to her word, Moran and her students managed her friend’s one-day yard sale, pricing items and manning the event.
“We got rid of three-quarters of her stuff,” Moran recalled, laughing. “(My friend) was there because she wanted to be, but all she did was sit back and take the money. We set it all up, and afterwards we cleaned it all up. What she didn’t want, we boxed it up and took it to the Salvation Army, and it was done. She didn’t have to worry about anything. So now I’ve got a couple of people who’ve heard about it (and want to hire us).”
Moran said she hopes to do more of such projects in the future. “It was really good money, especially for what was really a two-day project. And it’s good for the kids because they really like selling.”
Probably the biggest motivator for the kids to continue in the club is the out-of-state “reward” trip MESA students get when they reach the eighth grade. In order to participate in most MESA trips, students must maintain a B average, but for the reward trip itself, they must have been part of the club all three years in middle school.
“As they get older, they tend to kind of drop out (and join) another activity program at the school,” Moran explained. “That’s why we kind of dangle (the reward trip).”
Most reward trips, which take place in May, are usually to Disneyland. It’s probably the most popular aspect of the program. Tanhia Ponce, 13, is in her second year at MESA and initially joined for the chance to go to the Los Angeles-based amusement park. She’s since participated in competitions in Denver and loves being able to take the trips the club offers. It’s an opportunity many of these otherwise smart students would not have had, given their disadvantaged circumstances.
“We got to spend time with our friends and see new things,” she said. “We went to see some museums and learn some brand new stuff.”
Her friends, sisters Yolanda and Veronica de Leon, echoed the sentiment.
“My favorite part is the trips and making stuff,” Veronica, 12, said. “Like the energy houses.”
Students who continue in the MESA program through high school can take advantage of numerous educational benefits, including additional field trips and competitions, summer enrichment camps, mentoring programs, conferences and, more importantly, full scholarships to colleges around the country. The West Middle School club enjoys strong parental involvement and district support, and Moran and Brungardt are both looking forward to bringing in more students as it grows in popularity.
Probably no one, however, is more excited about the program than the students themselves. As the Monday afternoon session came to a close, many of the kids lingered in the classroom, chatting animatedly about their projects and their plans to improve on them. It’s an atmosphere rich in ideas and energy.
“It’s awesome!” 13-year-old Cyn-Dee Chaney said of the program before flashing a shy smile and bouncing out of the room.
For more information about MESA, go to www.cmesa.org.
Your typical school science class? Not really. These kids are part of West Middle School’s MESA Club, which itself is part of Colorado MESA (Mathemathics, Engineering, Science Achievement), a statewide after-school program targeting low-income, minority and female K-12 students to encourage them to pursue science and engineering careers. The nonprofit program is organized by the Colorado Minority Engineering Association.
Moran, a District 51 veteran and a MESA Club adviser for 15 years, works alongside eighth-grade science teacher Heidi Brungardt to supervise and develop programs for the students. The club meets every Monday after school in Brungardt’s classroom for 40 minutes. On this particular afternoon, the students are building miniature homes out of cereal boxes and insulating them using foil and other materials. Later on they’ll measure their houses’ energy usage. The goal? To see who could make the most energy-efficient “home.”
This is not your father’s science class, and that’s exactly the point.
The MESA students — a mix of sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders — will move on to working on more complex, sophisticated projects in anticipation of the state competitions in Denver. Brungardt and Moran offer them advice and tips, but otherwise the kids design and think through these projects on their own, with the eager help of their fellow MESA classmates.
“MESA is an inquiry-based program,” Brungardt explained. “We tell them, ‘Here are your supplies. Go figure it out.’ And we’ll help them obviously, but they really figure this stuff out. They’re really independent thinkers. And this is something here that the program does right. It’s good to see them get so excited about it.”
One of the things that Brungardt especially enjoys is the chance to see her students’ intellectual abilities blossom in the three years they spend in the club.
“As an eighth-grade teacher, I only see my eighth-grade students for one year. But in the MESA program, we work with them for three years, and it’s so neat to see them progress. We push them into harder competitions, like sixth-graders build a little solar car, and then as eighth-graders they build the hydrogen fuel cell car.”
The students participate in various fundraising projects throughout the year to raise money for their participation in the program, especially the expenses associated with traveling to competitions and field trips.
“We sell snow cones, we sell snacks after school and before school,” Moran said. “We do a fundraiser with the school district where we decorate tables for a school district function. At Christmas time we sell poinsettias.”
Another fundraising project the students are beginning to do is to assist people holding yard sales. They’ve only just begun offering this service, but Moran is pleased with the feedback she’s received from the students.
“My friend was selling her house and downsizing. She was like, ‘You know, I’m just gonna toss all this stuff. I just can’t even think about doing a yard sale. I don’t have the time for it.’ And I said, ‘You know, we’ll do it for you. You can give us a percentage of what you make at the yard sale, and we’ll do it for you.”
True to her word, Moran and her students managed her friend’s one-day yard sale, pricing items and manning the event.
“We got rid of three-quarters of her stuff,” Moran recalled, laughing. “(My friend) was there because she wanted to be, but all she did was sit back and take the money. We set it all up, and afterwards we cleaned it all up. What she didn’t want, we boxed it up and took it to the Salvation Army, and it was done. She didn’t have to worry about anything. So now I’ve got a couple of people who’ve heard about it (and want to hire us).”
Moran said she hopes to do more of such projects in the future. “It was really good money, especially for what was really a two-day project. And it’s good for the kids because they really like selling.”
Probably the biggest motivator for the kids to continue in the club is the out-of-state “reward” trip MESA students get when they reach the eighth grade. In order to participate in most MESA trips, students must maintain a B average, but for the reward trip itself, they must have been part of the club all three years in middle school.
“As they get older, they tend to kind of drop out (and join) another activity program at the school,” Moran explained. “That’s why we kind of dangle (the reward trip).”
Most reward trips, which take place in May, are usually to Disneyland. It’s probably the most popular aspect of the program. Tanhia Ponce, 13, is in her second year at MESA and initially joined for the chance to go to the Los Angeles-based amusement park. She’s since participated in competitions in Denver and loves being able to take the trips the club offers. It’s an opportunity many of these otherwise smart students would not have had, given their disadvantaged circumstances.
“We got to spend time with our friends and see new things,” she said. “We went to see some museums and learn some brand new stuff.”
Her friends, sisters Yolanda and Veronica de Leon, echoed the sentiment.
“My favorite part is the trips and making stuff,” Veronica, 12, said. “Like the energy houses.”
Students who continue in the MESA program through high school can take advantage of numerous educational benefits, including additional field trips and competitions, summer enrichment camps, mentoring programs, conferences and, more importantly, full scholarships to colleges around the country. The West Middle School club enjoys strong parental involvement and district support, and Moran and Brungardt are both looking forward to bringing in more students as it grows in popularity.
Probably no one, however, is more excited about the program than the students themselves. As the Monday afternoon session came to a close, many of the kids lingered in the classroom, chatting animatedly about their projects and their plans to improve on them. It’s an atmosphere rich in ideas and energy.
“It’s awesome!” 13-year-old Cyn-Dee Chaney said of the program before flashing a shy smile and bouncing out of the room.
For more information about MESA, go to www.cmesa.org.
