K-12 Outreach
Related News Archive: 2015
Popsicle Stick Bridge Competition
By: Isamar Escobar The Popsicle Stick Bridge competition is an annual event hosted by ASCE’s Orange County, Los Angeles, and San Bernardino Riverside Younger Member groups. We need help from structural folks to review the rules for next year and come up with some great ideas! Also needed are members to help run the event! The event is designed for high school students in these areas to develop engineering skills through critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, and creativity. We hope you'll volunteer...and/or attend! More »
Orange County Department of Education is seeking volunteers for the Academic Decathlon!
The Orange County Department of Education is seeking volunteers for the Academic Decathlon competition event on January 30, 2016. Each year they seek to engage educators, business professionals, local university students, and community leaders in interactive volunteer experiences that serve our youth directly. More »
Discover E - Global Day of the Engineer. Take the Pledge!
Take the pledge to celebrate and share how engineers make a world of difference! More »
Popsicle Stick Bridge Competition
By: Chad Harden, PE, SE The Popsicle Stick Bridge competition is an annual event hosted by ASCE’s Orange County, Los Angeles, and San Bernardino Riverside Younger Member groups. We need help from structural folks to review the rules for next year and come up with some great ideas! Also needed are members to help run the event! The event is designed for high school students in these areas to develop engineering skills through critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, and creativity. We hope you'll volunteer...and/or attend! More »
Irvine Unified School District Volunteer Opportunities
By: Kristen N. Winn, Director of STEM Education, Irvine Unified School District As the new Director of STEM Education for Irvine Unified School District (Mark Sontag’s successor), I am writing to ask for your assistance with this year’s science events. The participation of local scientists and science professionals is a powerful, positive message about our dedication to today’s youth and the importance of STEM education. These events are unique and fun opportunities for students and scientists alike and we hope that you will join us in supporting our goal of promoting student interest in STEM in the classroom, career, and beyond. More »
Request for Volunteers
The K-12 Outreach Committee is working hard this year to increase the number of students we reach this year with events. We have been contacted by schools in Anaheim, Tustin, Lake Forest, and Anaheim to assist with current planned STEM activities or present at the schools. Please 'read more' for a summary of some planned upcoming K-12 Opportunities for 2015/16 School Year. More »
“STEAM and Whisk(e)y”
By: Chad Harden, PE, SE The artistic and creative process present in engineering is not typically discussed or recognized. However, I think after only a decade of practice one can begin to appreciate the engineering process take on certain characteristics of an “artistic” process. Truly, there is much appreciation of a deliverable or creation, for a design that resolves economy with responsibility, safety with usefulness, technical excellence with constructability, and cooperation with experience and tradition. More »
President’s Article October 2015
By Steven King, P.E. Incoming ASCE Orange County Branch President, Steven King, PE, provides an overview of his goals as the 2015 - 2016 President. More »
K-12 Participates in State Leadership Conference
By: Isamar Escobar On July 18th, ASCE’s K-12 Committee participated in the 4-H State Leadership Conference at the University of California, Irvine. This conference brings together high school youth from across California in a four-day leadership training, networking, and learning experience. The K-12 committee held a 2-hour session on the Engineering Design Process which included a presentation on Civil Engineering, and the Marshmallow Tower Activity. More »
Civil Engineering and Sustainability Presentation to The Academy
By Sam Ali, PE, LEED AP, ENV SP I was invited to visit The Academy in Santa Ana and give a presentation to freshmen Design and Engineering students to inspire them about careers in Civil Engineering and Sustainability. The students were engaged and asked several questions, and The Academy faculty and staff were appreciative and hope for more collaboration opportunities with ASCE-OC. More »
Day of Making at Hawthorne High School of Manufacturing and Engineering
By: Isamar Escobar On Saturday June 13th, ASCE YMF participated in the first ever Day of Making at Hawthorne High School of Manufacturing and Engineering. This was an opportunity for local students to explore the various professions in the area related to the STEM field. The event included demonstrations by the various companies present such as Space X, Northrop Grumman, Metropolitan Water District, Epson and various others. More »
Applying Lessons Learned From OC YMF
By: Gary Gilbert, P.E., G.E. The ASCE OC Younger Member Forum (YMF) has been very successful in building a group that has amazing accomplishments and their members have fun being active. The OC Branch board would like to build upon that successful approach with all of our members. Over the last four years, the OC Branch has been working with the OC YMF to combine some key committees so that younger and experienced members can work together to grow existing successful programs. The committees that are shared by OC Branch and OC YMF are the K-12 Outreach, Community Service, and University Outreach committees. More »
A month in the life of the ASCE OC Branch Secretary
By Gregory Henk, P.E. What do lions, children and water have in common? Our Branch Secretary! Find out what's going on with the Community Service endeavours the Branch is involved in. More »
First Annual Orange County Spaghetti Bridge Competition
Twenty seven students and six faculty members were involved in this year's inaugural competition. A spaghetti bridge that weighed less than 250 gram (based the design specification) could hold 20 kg of the sustained load, and was awarded as the winning bridge. More »
How I Spent My First Month as ASCE OC's Board of Directors Secretary
Greg Henk, PE, the Branch's newest Board of Directors member, recaps his first month in the Secretary's position. More »
YMF visits Dale Junior High as part of the ASCE OC K - 12 Outreach Initiative
Recently, three volunteers presented an overview of civil engineering and one specific sector of civil engineering to 7th and 8th grade classrooms. More »
Volunteer at St. John's Episcopal School's STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) Day
New ASCE OC Board of Directors Secretary, Greg Henk, PE, was an Engineer Volunteer at St. John's Episcopal School's STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) Day on March 5th. The elementary school age students prepared for the day with weeks of classroom work where they prepared plans and materials for the day. There were many projects geared for the appropriate age groups. More »
Get involved in STEM Education - volunteer tutor or pursue a path to teaching with EnCorps!
Growing up in the South Bronx after migrating from Guyana, South America, one of EnCorps’ newest educators, Julian Lewis, was introduced to airplanes by a pilot who happened to be his 7th grade teacher. After a successful career that included overseeing the operations of Lockheed Martin’s U2 reconnaissance aircraft and serving as the corporation’s Director of Diversity, Julian has decided to pursue a second career teaching, hoping to inspire students like himself. This spring he will be a volunteer tutor at the STEM Academy of Hollywood. More »
Magnolia High School Visitation
On Friday, February 20, 2015, I had the opportunity to visit with Ms. Bev Berekian’s Earth Sciences class at Mangnolia HS. I presented the attached power point to the class and i was appreciative that the class was receptive to what I had to say. I touched on local obstacles, grant opportunities, and general education requirements during my presentation. I learned the class is in the middle of a solar panel related project and we exchanged some ideas with each other. Hopefully next year ASCE will be able to provide input earlier in the planning/design stage More »
Foothill Ranch Science Fair
Did you know that Double Bubble bubble gum retains its flavor longer than other brands on the market? Or that a temperature drop in the weather can have a measureable effect on the air pressure of a football? From taste to “Deflate Gate”, wind turbines to better mouse traps, the Foothill Ranch Elementary School Science Fair had exhibits and experiments for everyone to enjoy. The School requested ASCE to provide judges for the event so naturally I ignored the ASCE request and went on with my busy day. But it nagged at me and a week later I committed to actually volunteering. More »
Popsicle Stick Bridge Competition Call for Volunteers (February 28, 2015)
ASCE annually hosts a Popsicle Stick Bridge Competition (PSBC) for the high school students in the Los Angeles, Orange County and San Bernardino/Riverside County area. This year’s event will be held at Los Angeles Union Station on February 28, 2015. More »
Mentorship Committee Program Update
Starting May 2014, OC Branch and OC YMF teamed up to implement a mentorship program to provide guidance and support for young civil engineers while giving experienced engineers an opportunity to give back their lessons and knowledge to the civil engineering community. More »
K-12 Outreach Event: Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s Mentoring Power Hour - Ready to Lead L.A.
On November 15th, 2014 five ASCE volunteers, Victor Aguirre, Isamar Escobar, Rafael Contreras, Remi Candaele, and Gidti Ludesirishoti, joined over 30 other volunteer mentors for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s (CHCI) Mentoring Power Hour. More »
K-12 Outreach - Stonegate Elementary
What happens when you give 165 fourth graders marshmallows, toothpicks, and a shake table? On November 14th the ASCE OC K-12 Outreach Committee and the YMF sought to find out! Five volunteers went to Stonegate Elementary school in Irvine to help teach students about the engineering field and the importance of science, technology, engineering, and math careers are. More »
