Commerce City Beacon
Adams City Middle offers MESA to teach
future scientists & engineers
By Tonja Castaneda
Appears on IntraDenver in: Commerce City
11/12/2008
A science and math program is expanding at Adams City Middle School to teach students how much fun being a scientist, engineer or mathematician can really be!
Students have joined the after school program called Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement (MESA) for this school year. Currently the program is full at Adams City Middle School, with 60 students in the program and another 25 on a waiting list to join.
Last year, 25 Adams City Middle kids participated in MESA. Eighth grade Adams City Middle science teacher Becky Dion attributes the growth in the program to word of mouth by kids having fun while learning about science and math.
"They had a blast last year," said Dion. "They made trebuchets (catapults) and went on fun field trips."
This year the kids will attend the MESA program once a week after school to participate in science and math projects including building trebuchets (catapults) that hurl objects through the air. The students use science and math formulas to make mini roller coasters from wire and popsicle sticks.
They will use math and engineering concepts to build free standing straw towers higher and higher, and even take a field trip to the Denver Zoo to spend the night with wild animals all in the name of education to learn how scientists work with zoo animals.
The program was started last year at Adams City Middle School but has doubled in size this year as word of mouth passed along how much fun kids had in the program. The MESA program is also offered at Kearney Middle School.
This year four field trips related to science and engineering are planned including the "Bunk with the Beast" zoo trip and to a mini career and science project day.
A MESA night was held at Adams City Middle School on Oct. 8 during parent-teacher conferences to welcome new students into the program. Students brought their parents to the MESA room at their school to fill out paperwork and get their free, Adams City Middle School MESA shirt.
The Colorado MESA program stands for Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement. The program is designed to encourage students to prepare themselves for a college education and to major in mathematics, engineering or science. MESA provides a source for future scientists and engineers to get excited about these subjects at a young age.
At MESA night at Adams City Middle School was MESA Center Director at Colorado State University Melanie Haas. She says the MESA program has been in Colorado for 28 years, and currently there are 160 MESA chapters in Colorado schools.
The kids go to catapult competition and go to a state competition in the spring in Lakewood," said Haas. She said there is a tower competition created by straws and marshmallows.
The kids make gliders, wind machines, robots and even build cars, said Haas. "MESA offers a hands-on approach to emphasize when math and physics is involved in building things. We also offer information about biological sciences including soil conservation."
The MESA program mission is to see more students studying math and science. According to Haas, MESA advisors emphasize different ways to teach math and science so students are more successful in these academic subjects. She said also that MESA program have been linked to increasing CSAP scores in schools.
There are 3,500 students in the MESA program in after school programs across the state of Colorado. The local Commerce City students are headed to a math and science convention in Denver at the end of October.
The Lights On After School organization sponsored the MESA t-shirts and blinking lights give-a-ways to students in the Adams City Middle School MESA program. This organization is committed to seeing more funding coming from the government to pay for after school programs for school children.