1st and 2nd Place and an Invitation to WORLDS!!!!!
Hello, my name is Judy Bower and I am a teacher at the Pennsylvania Steam Academy. I teach Technology Education, with an emphasis on STEAM curriculum that includes engineering, coding, environmental literacy and PA Science standards. I need your help to ensure that my scholars have an opportunity of a lifetime.
PA Steam Academy is a steam focused charter school in Harrisburg, PA. We serve 280 students and are a school-wide Title 1 school. The goal of the Pennsylvania STEAM Academy is to make education fun and engaging while significantly strengthening the city and the region with an innovative approach to education. We provide high expectations and unlimited possibilities for all Scholars. https://pasteam.org/mission/
Several teams of 4th grade students designed and created solar powered model houses to enter into the KidWind Solar Challenge in State College PA. These amazing students designed and built model houses that used solar panels to pump water from one location to another, planned and diagrammed the wiring, and kept scientific journals of their work.
Our teams placed First and Second while also winning an award for best teamwork at the state level. Our winning team “Power of the Sun” has been invited to the World KidWind Solar Challenge May 4 through 8 in Minneapolis MN. https://www.kidwind.org/challenge/worlds
Taking part in this competition would allow them to refine their skills, engage in hands-on real world STEM challenges and learn more about future careers in renewable energy. This has a special importance for our students because renewable energy is a vital part of our future and people of color are underrepresented in this economic sector. Additionally, this experience would be the first time many of these students ever traveled out of the state, flew on an airplane, or experienced competitive Science challenges. This will have real world future implications for career opportunities and catapult students into Science and Technology career tracts.
In order to be able to take advantage of this important opportunity we need help to be able to provide airfare to MN, hotel accommodations, and food for 5 students and 4 chaperones. In addition, students get to redesign their model homes, which will need additional supplies and materials to construct for the World Competition level. We are anticipating the total cost to be around $9,500.00 Any amount towards helping these students reach for their dreams will be greatly appreciated. There is no budget for an experience like this; so without community and donor support, our students miss out. Any money we raise that is not used for the 2024 World Competition will be saved for next year’s KidWind Challenge and expenses needed for a new year of competition.