DRSS Participating in Dayton Foundation's #SpreadtheGood Campaign

Dayton Regional STEM School students, parents, and teachers, we need your help. The Dayton Foundation is kicking off its #SpreadtheGood campaign to highlight the good work happening in Greater Dayton. It also offers an opportunity for nonprofits (including DRSS) to receive one of three one-time #SpreadtheGood grants ranging between $500 and $2,000. Not only is the campaign a fun way to see the good work that goes on every day in our community, but it's also an opportunity for organizations like DRSS to receive some much needed funding and exposure to new audiences.

We need your help to receive one of these grants and continue to spread the good throughout the DRSS community. Here's how to help:

• Follow: "Like" the Dayton Foundation on Facebook and/or follow them on Twitter (@DaytonFdn). 
• Snap an Action Shot: Next time you volunteer at the school or a school-sponsored event, snap a photo of yourself performing a good deed (photos of buildings or logos will not count - it must be you doing something at or on behalf of DRSS). Think about coaching opportunities or extra-curriculars you help out with.
• Share: Show the community how you #SpreadtheGood by uploading your photo to Facebook or Twitter using the hashtag #SpreadtheGood and tagging The Dayton Foundation (they won't count unless you do both of these steps!) *Be sure to mention that you are helping The Dayton Regional STEM School in your post!

Help us spread the word, but most of all, help us #SpreadtheGood!

Find more information here: http://www.daytonfoundation.org/spreadthegood.html

Check out a video of ways the money was spent last year here:

2015 9th Grade Job Shadowing Day A Success!

October 21st, 2015 was not just "Back To The Future Day" (the date Marty and Doc traveled to in Back to the Future II) - it was also 9th Grade Job Shadow Day at DRSS! The opportunities our partners provided to our students today were invaluable. Career exploration opportunities like today exemplify what we mean by our motto - "The Real World Starts Here!"

We can't thank our job shadow host sites enough for their participation, so we wanted to do so once more and share the many photos from the experiences students had all across the Miami Valley. Enjoy!

Many of our job shadow partners are not pictured below, but we want to be sure to thank them for their participation! If you're interested in becoming a job shadow partner and hosting a 10th grade student in April of 2016, please contact Community Outreach Director, Arch Grieve, at arch.grieve@wright.edu.

Clarissa and Elizabeth shadowed today at Barge Waggonner Sumner and Cannon, Inc. They are pictured here talking with their engineers about the kinds of civil engineering projects the company is currently working on. 

BWSC is an engineering and architectural firm based in Miamisburg that does projects all over the Dayton area. Learn more about their company here - http://www.bargewaggoner.com/

Victoria, Donnie, Kaylee, and Raymond are job shadowing today at Naked Lime (www.nakedlime.com), a subsidiary of Reynolds and Reynolds that specializes in automobile marketing. During the experience the students had the chance to job shadow Patrick Grieve, Danny Susco, Rebecca Bernard, and Caitlin Moran, the writers and editors of The News Wheel. Read more about The News Wheel at www.thenewswheel.com. — at Reynolds and Reynolds.

Claire holding a snake at the Brukner Nature Center! Learn more about the center at their website - http://www.bruknernaturecenter.com/

Riley Jackie shadowed with Stephanie Bange, Director of the Educational Resource Center, and are pictured here working on some collateral pieces for the ERC. Learn more about the ERC at - https://education-human-services.wright.edu/resources/educational-resource-center/overview

Lauren at Cozy Melts making pottery that the customers will be painting. Check out Cozy Melts' website here - http://cozymelts.com/

Cara arranged a visit to shadow at Beverly Gardens Elementary and is seen here helping students with their work. Check out their website here - http://www.madriverschools.org/Domain/9

A group of 9th grade students are at Beavercreek-based 3D printing company, Tangible Solutions, today. They are pictured here with co-founder and COO Chris Collins. Check out an article he wrote in the Dayton Business Journal about 3D printing here - http://www.bizjournals.com/dayton/news/2015/09/14/guest-column-keeping-dayton-ahead-of-the-global.html — at Tangible Solutions.

Jenna is shadowing Wright State University math instructor Peggy Kelly for her experience today! — at Wright State University.

Emma completed her job shadow visit at the Northmont Animal Clinic. Check out their website here - http://northmontanimalclinic.com/

Kalie got to do her job shadowing experience at Stahl Vision. She is pictured here with Dr. Stahl! You can find their website here - http://www.stahlvision.com/

Today at Wright State University's Student Success Center, Dr. Mike O'Neal, Harolynn Williams (far left and far right, respectively) and Amanda Herbe hosted Jla, Grant, and Marinna for job shadowing. The students got to see up-close how the new student success center serves the WSU student population. You can read more about the SSC in this DDN article - http://www.mydaytondailynews.com/news/news/local/wsu-dedicates-student-success-center/nnywm/

Stopped by to see Athena Fretz, who is shadowing Christina Klimo at the University of Dayton's Ryan C. Harris Learning-Teaching Center! — at the University of Dayton

Holly and Elizabeth are shadowing Shayna McConville and Andy Dailey at the Rosewood Arts Centre. When we stopped by they were learning how to market an arts event with Andy. — at Rosewood Arts Centre.

Our first stop of the day was at 7NT, a civil engineering firm in downtown Dayton. Eoghan Gregory is hosting two students today. Pictured alongside Eoghan in this picture is Zaniel Walker. Learn more about 7NT here - http://www.7nteng.com/

Silas is shadowing at Catapult Creative today and is pictured here outside their downtown Dayton office with job shadow mentors Chris, Veronica, and Luke. Find out more about their business here - http://launchcatapult.com/ — at Catapult Creative.

Today Alex Mercuri job shadowed Ms. Poland, a school counselor and intervention specialist at Indian Valley Intermediate School. They are pictured here out in front of the school!

Nathan shadowed at Mound Laser & Photonics Center, whose property actually sits right across the pond from DRSS! Today Nathan had a close up look at some of the 3D printing projects that MLPC is working on. Learn more about MLPC here at their website here - http://www.mlpc.com/

Today at Cox Media Group Jason Gilmore is shadowing Quincy Wallace and Haleigh Lamb is shadowing Mary-Irby Jones!

DRSS students who were interested in the health care industry were able to visit Dayton Children's Hospital today. Students are seen here with Julie Heaston, RN. She is talking to the students about surgery and nurse recruiting. While Dayton Children's does not provide a typical job shadow opportunity, students were given the chance to hear from a number of different medical industry professionals during their visit there today. — at Dayton Children's Hospital.

Elijah at Northridge Animal Clinic with a dog in surgery. Learn more about the clinic on their website - http://northridgeanimalclinic.com/

Jack Bryan shadowing Major Keith Collard, Executive Officer and C-17 pilot at the 89th Airlift Squadron. The squadron is on Wright-Patterson AFB, and is subordinate to the Air Force Reserve Command.

Jack performed touch-and-gos and cross-country navigation flights (to Alaska!) in the $8 million C-17 flight simulator, received instruction on - and operated - the rear cargo door on an actual C-17, and also learned how to use tactical pilotage charts in the planning of logistical flight routes. — in Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

iHeartMedia - Dayton is hosting Rowan and Ali today, pictured here with their job shadow mentor, Steven Lewis. When we arrived they were learning about how they manage their website and social media presence. Check out the radio stations that fall under iHeartMedia - Dayton here: http://iheartdaytonadvertising.com/

If you have any more pictures to share, please email Community Outreach Director, Arch Grieve, and arch.grieve@wright.edu.

A Day of Economics!

On Friday, October 16th, "Economics" seemed to be the buzzword at the school as students in lower grade levels learned about new economic concepts and juniors and seniors traveled to Wright State University's College of Business.

In Ms. Paul's sixth grade social studies class, students are investigating and creating definitions for different types of economic systems, including traditional, command, market, and mixed economies. Students were given two pictures representing each economic system and then had to brainstorm and concoct a working definition for each different type of economy. So far, students have used their given clues very well and have come up with some stellar examples!

Meanwhile, juniors and seniors took a trip to the Wright State University Soin Trading Center and learned about the stock market from WSU professors. Students got to see the capabilities of the Bloomberg Launchpad program and learn about the career opportunities that are available to them in business and finance.

Students heard from Dr. Akhbari and Lecturer Ingram about how the trade room works and how to invest in the stock, bond, and mutual fund markets.

The Soin Trading Room is state-of-the-art, we can't thank WSU enough for hosting our students and showing it to them!

Students also were able to tour "DAVE," which is the College of Business's new Data Analytics and Visualization Environment, which is a state-of-the-art data analysis laboratory. Students learned about how the university can analyze vast amounts of data after hearing Dr. Sengupta talk about all of capabilities of the lab.

We would like to thank Dean Li and the College of Business for hosting DRSS students on this visit. This marks the fourth time that DRSS students have been to WSU to visit to the trade room as part of their Economics class.

Students are currently competing for the fourth year in a row in the Ohio Stock Market Challenge, which is coordinated through WSU. This trip not only gives them a better understanding of how the game works, but also helps foster better understanding of investing in stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. This is a key component of the personal finance unit in Economics' classes at DRSS, which all students are required to take at DRSS.

DRSS Students Present at First TedX Youth @Dayton Event

Two DRSS students, Alex T. Smith and Shari Gordnier presented at the first ever TedX Youth@Dayton event on Friday, 9/25/15. DRSS student Rowan Goble also served as an emcee for the event. Alex T's talk was titled "I Ain't a Politician" and was about encouraging students to play an active role in the political process. Shari's was titled "Trust Me, I'm a Scientist," and in it she discussed a science project in which she investigated the relationship between individuals' superhero preferences and their self-esteem. DRSS student preparation for this event began months ago in Ms. Schultz's and Ms. Poppaw's STEMmersion course, which provided students with an opportunity to hone their presentations and meet with former TedX Dayton speakers in order to craft their presentations.

Teacher Mandi Schultz (left), students Shari Gordnier, Rowan Goble, and Alex T. Smith, and teacher Erin Poppaw showing their TedX spirit at the conference! Ms. Schultz and Ms. Poppaw worked tirelessly alongside other area teachers and TedX Dayton organizers to help make the event a success.

The event was an exciting one in which the entire DRSS Senior Class was able to travel to Wright State University to see. The conference featured speakers from four other area schools, including Fairmont High School, The Miami Valley School, Yellow Springs High School, and Vandalia-Butler High School.

Mrs. Strickland and Shari posing outside the Apollo Room at Wright State.

Alex T. Smith giving his talk titled "I Ain't a Politician," which explained his class' experience trying to pass Matthew's Bill, legislation which would ensure that public facilities across Ohio provide restrooms include adult changing stations for individuals with multiple handicaps.

Shari presents her talk titled "Trust Me, I'm a Scientist," during which she recounted her experiences investigating the relationship between superhero preference and self-esteem.

The visit provided an opportunity to catch up with some DRSS alumni who are now attending Wright State, like Aaron Joy!

The event took place approximately one month before the upcoming TedX Dayton event, which is happening this week on October 16th. All of the students who presented from every school did an amazing job!

Meghan Durkee Honored as OCSS Outstanding Social Studies Teacher in 2015

On Tuesday, October 6th, Dayton Regional STEM School Social Studies Teacher, Meghan Durkee, was honored by the Ohio Council for the Social Studies (OCSS) with the "Outstanding Social Studies Teacher of the Year" award. This honor is bestowed upon two Ohio social studies teachers every year to recognize social studies teachers who "demonstrate outstanding dedication, skill, intelligence, and caring in the practice of their art." The recipients are nominated by their colleagues and the state OCSS Executive Board members select the recipients from these nominations.

Meghan Durkee, DRSS Teacher and 2015 Outstanding Social Studies Teacher of the Year, receiving her award in Columbus.

Meghan was nominated for the award by her colleagues at The Dayton Regional STEM School, particularly for her work on Matthew's Bill, a class project she began with Intervention Specialist Jennifer Helton, whose son has multiple handicaps. With Jennifer's help, Meghan utilized Project-Based Learning techniques to turn her government class into an effective lobbying organization that is currently pushing for state-wide adoption of SB112, a bill that would mandate that public restrooms include adult changing stations for Ohioans like Matthew. Currently, the students have a sponsor for this bill in the Senate in Senator Peggy Lehner of Kettering, OH. You can read more about their efforts in this story from Wright State.

In describing her feelings about the award, Meghan describes the experience as "strange," given that she "work[s] with so many awesome educators that awesomeness is kind of norm around here, so it feels kind of bizarre to be singled out that way for an award like this."

She is very grateful, however, and according to OCSS, the nominees for the award must be Ohio classroom educators currently teaching social studies who "exemplify excellence in the teaching of social studies skills and content." Additionally, their colleagues should "recognize them as exceptional social studies practitioners." As part of her recognition, Meghan was able to travel to Columbus during OCSS's annual state-wide conference on Tuesday to attend the conference, be recognized, receive a framed certificate and a year’s membership in OCSS, and $100.00 cash award.

Congratulations Mrs. Durkee!

Students Delve Deeper Into Manufacturing

October 7th, 2015 - We continue our celebration of manufacturing month today by welcoming Manufacturing Growth Specialist, Josh Kemplin, of UD Research Institute's Fastlane Manufacturing Extension Partnership (UDRI-MEP). Josh was at DRSS today to follow up on students' visit to local manufacturers last week and talk more about what a career in manufacturing looks like. He discussed what jobs are available to students who are interested in going into the manufacturing industry, including many STEM careers.

Josh goes over some of the misconceptions about manufacturing and talks to students about what it's really like.

After hearing about manufacturing, students got a chance to have their own "widget" factory and make the kinds of decisions that manufacturers are faced with everyday!

After his talk, Josh and Brittany led the class in an interactive classroom activity through which students learned about demand, costs, resources, labor utilization, and the manufacturing process in general, an activity which they collaborated together in order to create.

Brittany explains some of the terms students will see as they complete the activity, including profit, costs, and revenue.

Students begin work on the activity.

If you're interested in replicating this activity in your classroom, you can download the worksheets here. You can also request that Josh speak to your class by emailing him at Joshua.Kemplin@udri.udayton.edu.

Thank you to Josh and the UDRI-MEP for their visit today and for helping arrange the students' visit last week to local manufacturers!

6th Grade Class Celebrates Manufacturing Day!

Today the 6th Grade Class celebrated Manufacturing Day by splitting up and visiting two local manufacturers: Gem City Engineering and Production Control Units! Busing and lunch costs were provided by Gem City Engineering and Middletown Tube Works. Students were provided with a first-hand look at the manufacturing process on these visits today by going on tours of each of the facilities. More than 300 students from area schools went through Gem City alone today!

The busing and lunch for this trip were generously donated by Gem City Engineering and Middletown Tube Works.  

Students hold up a sign that PCU created to commemorate their visit today!

Students in the Gem City group heard from Tim O'Meara, President of Gem City, about the company and the manufacturing work that goes on there.

Students get their safety goggles before going inside.

Special thanks to the Dayton Region Manufacturers' Association and Josh Kemplin of UD Research Institute's Manufacturing Extension Program for their assistance in identifying the sponsors for the trip today! Check out more pictures from their trips below.

Students had a great lunch at Gem City!

Checking out the facility

Seeing how the machines worked

Learning about how Gem City makes products to help other companies (like P&G) test their products!

Steve was such a great tour guide!

Students learning about different parts that are manufactured at Gem City

Students had an assignment to complete while they were on the trip

The students got an up-close look at robots!

Checking out all of the different types of parts that are produced at Gem City

There was even time for Q&A at the end!

On site at PCU

Students touring the PCU facilities

Students got to see the printer in action!

Check out our album on Facebook for more pictures!