Appreciation Day showcases STEM talents
STORY AND-PHOTO BY JEANETTE WRJGHT
NEWS EDITOR
C la ck am as C o m m u n ity C o lle g e ’ s
Science, Technology, Engineering and
Mathematics (STEM) club is one of the
largest student groups on campus. To
celebrate everything the STEM club does,
they showcase student work.
C C C ’s STEM Appreciation Day was
celebrated Thursday w ith the STEM
club hosting student presentations in
the Community Center and a student
question and answer panel in Gregory
Forum.
From noon to 4 p. m. students from
various science classes at CCC presented
class projects for display and peer review.
From poster boards exp lain in g
experiments and research on extraction
of spider DNA to interactive projects like
a 3D printer, students got to present
their work to classm ates and fellow
students.
Students filled out critique sheets
for each others work, judging based on
experience and what they thought could
make it better.
Presenting projects is a han ds-o n
way of learning how to introduce your
information in an understandable way
and get useful feedback from peers, Said
CCC student Elizabeth El-hajj.
“ I think it’s really helpful, especially
since we’re a really tightly-knit group,”
El-hajj said. “ Everyone has a different
perspective and different thoughts, a
way of how to improve.”
Peer review w ill b ecom e more/
prevalent later on in ones career, so the
practice is important, El-hajj said.
C C C students N athan W alker and
Will Nilson displayed their physics lab
presentation, a resonance board using
a speaker and sand to show the effects
of vibration waves.
“ It’ s kinda cool to show different
scientific principles and ways that people
can see and understand,” Walker said.
“ It’s a lot more fun than a class, I think,
and you can learn it a lot faster. ”
Introducing people to STEM and its
different fields is another purpose o f
STEM day.
, “ J think it encourages a lot of curiosity,
and different concepts,” Walker said,
“ so it can help people who maybe
weren’t considering STEM fields before
kinda think ‘oh, this is interesting’ and
different specific experim ents could
. Clackamas Print —
encourage them to look into it more. ”
Tory B lack w ell, a C C C b io lo gy
instructor, said students gain a lot of
“ soft skills” at the presentations, like
oral communication and presenting and
explaining work, which could lead to
internships and lab opportunities.
Students talking with others outside
their STEM field helps them get out of
their group and build networking skills,. >
Blackwell said.
“ There’s a lot of cross-communication,
and t h a t ’ s w h at cre a te s th a t
interdisciplinary perspective on science
that students reälly need to have by the
time, they get to finishing their four-
year, starting a masters, a PhD program,
or any of that cool stuff,” Blackwell said.
STEM day gives the STEM club a rare
chance to Shine..
“ If you look at some of the other
groups, like art, music,” Blackwell said;
“ they have regular performances that
are open to the public so you have a way,
as a student, to appreciate what they do,
but we don’t really have anything like
that for the STEM students, and they
do a lot o f work, and really nobody gets
to see it.”
CCC’s STEM club regularly hosts events
at CCC for students in and out of STEM,
including tw ice-m onthly STEM talks
funded by CCC’ s BUILD EXITO program.
The program, funded.by the National
Institutes of Health and in collaboration
with Portland State University and eight
other regional partners, is designed to
help bridge thegap in diversity currently
present in science, according the CCC ,
website.
The STEM club’s panel on Thursday
was a Q&A with four former GCC students
now attending PSU in STEM fields.
. The panel originally included Joey
H eisler, Joann a M eskel, A nnaliese
Hernandez and Candice Stauffer, though
Stauffer was unable to attend.
Medina Lamkin and Mary Lee were the
president and vice president of the CCC
STEM club this year, and are both BUILD
EXITO scholars.
Lamkin and Lee were excited to have
former CCC students talk about their
experiences.
“ We’re kinda out of the way, there’ s
not a lot that happens out here; most
of it happens at PSU,” Lee said, “ so it’ s
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Medina Lamkin (left) and Mary Lee (right) served as the president and vice
president of the STEM club this year.
kinda cool that students here can go see
a ‘real’ scientist give a talk about their
research without having to travel all the
way to PSU .”'
Because CCC is a tw o-year college,
instructors aren’t typically conducting'
their own research, w hich provides
different opportunities for students than
at four-year schools.
“ Com m unity colleges tend to be
focused on education and learning, so
I really like that p art,” Lam kin said,
“ even though you don’t get exposed to
research, you get really good teaching,
you get really good teachers who want
to teach, and do their best to teach you
stuff [and] help you learn.”
Former students can not only give
advice about how to get to another school
or program, but can also ease anxiety,
Lee said.
“ H aying [the students] come back
theckckamaspriRt.net
and maintain that network across the
transfer is really important,” Lee said.
“ As we become professionals, having
that support system, that network in
order to succeed later in your career is
really important, And it starts here at
Clackamas. We want to help bridge that
gap.” -
. CCC’s STEM club is open to students
from any major or area.
“ It’ s a way that we can introduce
people to different topics because it
encom passes so m any fields and if
you’re focused on one thing you may
not be exposed to other th in gs,” Lee
said. “ And it’s another way to Spread
general knowledge about science and
all the careers and things you can do
with i t ”
STEM club m eetings are held on
Wednesdays from 5 to 6 p .jn . on the
Oregon City campus in Pauling 132.
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