School: Strawberry Crest High School
Whereabouts: Dover, Florida
STEM Coach: Jim Brockman
Why do you as a teacher want to volunteer your time to coach your team?
The club I sponsor is called “The Science Competitors Club” It is an after school club of approximately 100 students that enjoy taking part in various science related competitions. The competitions give my students an opportunity to apply the concepts they are learning in the classroom. Beyond that, it gives the students an opportunity to develop a STEM related skill set that will carrying them into college and one day careers. I volunteer my time not only to help advance my students thus making the future a better place, but also for my own continuing education. Technology is dynamic and I like to keep up to date so that I can help my students push their boundaries further.
List any Curricular or Extra Curricular Clubs that you lead or have lead in the past:
Science Competitors Club which includes: Science Olympiad, Science Bowl, Electrathon, BEST Robotics, First Robotics, Vex Robotics, Bridge Building Contest, Samsung’s Solve for Tomorrow, Engineer Girl Essay, and the Student Astronaut Challenge
I have also created and coached a rowing crew and a dragon boat team, both of which I have taken to a national level.
School Golf team
How will participating in this competition benefit your students’ familiarity with renewable energy & their opinions on further education and careers opportunities in STEM related fields?
In particular, we are interested in this competition as a scale model of our electrathon car. In electrathon my students have built an electric vehicle that they race enduro-style. This is not RC scale rather the car is actually driven by one of the students. So far in electrathon we have only competed in the lead/acid battery category. We have started building an frame and are interested in entering the alternative energy class. We are exploring option that include regenerative breaking, solar, and alternative batteries to lead/acid. Taking part in the H2AC challenge would give my students an opportunity to explore components of the hydrogen fuel cell and then potentially apply their knowledge to a larger scale.