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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (April 23, 1997)
A prii . 23, 1997 • T he P or i land O bservi R P agi A 6 at on Finalists Honored at “America’s Smithsonian” Oregon Students Invent The Future As Part Of Intel Contest A device that helps adults to walk again after a debilitating accident, a mobile power plant that harnesses the energy generated by the ocean’s currents and a machine that chills beverages in mere seconds. These are among the inventions submitted by the 10 finalists from middle schools in Oregon as part o f Intel Corporation’s “Invention of the Fu ture” contest. The “ Invention of the Future” contest is designed to encourage cre ativity and innovation, as well as strengthen students’ math and sci ence skills. Organized for students in grades five through nine, the com petition challenges today’s youth to invent something that will improve their future. The 10 finalists were honored guests at Intel’s reception April 9th and were recognized dur ing the awards ceremony. Their art work and descriptions of their in ventions was on display at the "America’s Smithsonian" exhibition throughout the evening. The grand prize winner was the lucky recipient of a 200 MHz Pentium processor- based system with MMX technol ogy; with an identical system also being sent to the winner’s school. The grand prize winner’s invention will be on display at the exhibition and on Intel’s World Wide Web home page. It will then travel with the “America’s Smithsonian” exhi bition for the remainder of the tour. The grand prize winner is Jenni fer Stonewall, 12, from Beaverton, Ore. J e n n ife r’s entry, “ Sm art Alarm." is a smoke detector system which, in the event of a fire, pro vides all members of a household with the peace of mind of knowing that everyone has safely exited the burning building. The three-part system consists of a smoke detector, individual “Smart Buddy” units, and a “Smart Master” parent unit. The smoke detector has been modified so that someone’s cry for help can be heard between inter mittent beeps. The indiviaual“Smart Buddy” units, in the form of a brace let, watch, pet’s collar, or vibrating unit for the hearing-impaired, emit different sound tones for each per son so it is easy to identify which member of the household is miss ing. Only the “Smart Master” parent unit has the ability to deactivate the “Smart Buddy” units. “ I was very moved by a recent story in the news about a woman who died in a house fire when she went back into the house to save her dog,” said Stonewall. “ I realized that most of the people who die in fires die when they run back into a burning house because that are not sure if everyone is out. The Smart Alarm’ allows you to take back con trol over your home and not risk your life by trying to save other people when you do not have to.” All of the entries demonstrated the students’ creativity and under standing of the patent and invention process. Perhaps as significant are the social issues touched on by stu dents who participated in the con test. Generating more than 275 en tries within a four-week period, stu- Molly Edmunds, 10, o f Portland, OR is one o f the finalists of Intel Corp, 's “Invention o f the Future" Contest in Oregon. Here, she poses with her invention at the "America's Smithsonian" exhibit at the Portland Expo Center. Jennifer Stonewall, 12, of Beaverton, OR is the grand prize winner of Intel Corp, 's “Invention o f the Future" Contest in Or. Here, she poses with her teacher, Sherri Roberti, and her grand prize, a 200 MHz Pentium processor-based computer system with MMX technology, at the “America’s Smithsonian" exhibit at the Portland Expo Center. A Partnership for Public Education K weisi M fvme and C arole S hields __________ by Across all racial and gender lines and transcending the ideological borders of our political parties, one belief should unite us as Americans: that public education should be a consistent, national commitment to every child. As longas we commit to keeping our strong schools strong and making our weak schools better, we know that our children can do anything. But now, our nation’s covenant with our children is in question. That is why two organizations com mitted to strong public schools-the National Association for the Ad vancement of Colored People and People For the American Way—are proud to announce a Partnership for Public Education. This partnership seeks to ensure that public education will remain a fundamental guaran tee for all of our children. What threatens our children and w hat th reaten s our c h ild re n ’s schools? A pernicious, steal-from- th e -p o o r -a n d - g iv e -to -th e -r ic h scheme known as vouchers. Voucher proposals now pending in both house of Congress as well as nearly two dozen state legislatures would take money away from our public school students and give it to private schools. And abandon many of our children in the process. These proposals represent a dire threat to public education in this nation. What is wrong with vouchers? Plenty-but our foremost objection is this: They leave children behind. There aren’t enough classrooms and there aren’t enough desks in private schools to hold all of the children whomightwant to be included. And, private schools are selective. Unlike our public schools, they are not re quired, nor are they inclined many times, to regard children as equally desirable to their school when it comes to race, gender, faith, na tional origin, disability, educational challenge. Vouchers take us to a world in which private schools cherry-pick the best and the bright est, leaving the other children be hind to languish in schools that are robbed of precious funds. Skin color, religion, economic class, language group, need for re medial work—all of these things would be barriers to acceptance and success in a system designed around the choices of the private schools, not the choices of the parents and students. And what happens when private schools do let economically disadvantaged kids in? In the few places where voucher programs ex ist—Milwaukee and Cleveland, for example-vouchers pay only part of the tuition bills. Parents pay the rest. Transportation costs? Parents pay. Extracurricular activities, such as sports or band'1 Parents pay. Books for learning? You guessed it—par ents pay. Although none is so pressing as the attack they represent on our children's future, other problems exist with respect to voucher pro posals. Vouchers would assuredly result in many Americans paying more in property taxes—either di rectly or through higher rents. Urban school districts, faced with an even greater exodus of students and dollars, would be forced to pre vail upon state legislatures for mul- timillion-dollar bailouts, or they would disintegrate altogether. And last but not never least: Let us not forget that the U.S. Constitution expressly precludes spending public funds on the advancement of reli gion—and that is exactly what would happen if public tax dollars are fun- neled to private schools, including sectarian ones. Voucher proponents argue that the public schools are like sinking ships. But they artrying to throw life preservers to a few, select children. We know that it’s better to make our public education ship seaworthy and safe. We can do this by taking an interest in our schools, by attending school board meetings and parent- teacher conferences, by asking our kids what they did at school that day-and listening closely to their answer. The NAACP and People For the American Way formed a Partner ship for Public Education because we feel it is time to reclaim our public schools, and our national com- mitment to the opportunity of every child. Every child counts. All chil dren need free and open access to quality education. And not one child must be left behind. PSU salutes alumni, faculty and friends Each year Portland State Univer sity honors outstanding alumni, fac ulty and friends during its annual awards ceremony, PSU Salutes, which takes place this year on Thurs day, May 1, from 5 to 7 p m in PSU’s Harrison Hall, 1833 SW I Ith. Outstanding Alumni awards go to northeast Portland resident Lee Jenkins, recreation supervisor at the University Park Community Cen ter, and to Clackamas, O re , resi- dent Keren Brown Wilson, presi dent and CEO o f Assisted Living Concepts, Inc. The Distinguished Faculty Service Award goes to Port land State biology Professor Rich ard Forbes of Portland. Friends of the University Awards recognize support given to PSU The Clark Foundation, Sue Stafford Remy of The Hasson Company Re altors, U.S Bank, the PSU Advo cates, and PSU President Judith A. Lee Jenkins Ramaley. The public is welcome to attend to celebrate the accomplishment of these community and faculty mem bers and organizations and the suc cess of the University. Admission is $15 and includes complimentary parking (w ith perm it), hors d'oeuvres by Ron Paul Charcuterie, beer and wine, and musical perfor mances. For information, call 725- 5073. Charter School legislation passed The Oregon State Senate passed legislation allowing the creation of charter schools within the public school system. Sponsors o f SB628 believe it will offer flexibility to teachers and increased educational opportunities to Oregon's children “This bill will improve a system that is failing many of our children," said Senator Hartung (R-Portland). “This collaborative effort will pro tect local schools and give families more choices. Charter schools will finally provide the opportunities out communities and our children de serve.” Senate Majority Leader Gene Derfler (R-Salem) added, “ With this bill the Senate will introduce com petition into our school system Edu cators will be free from burdensome regulations and will have the flex ibility to effectively educate students SB628 opens the door for inde pendent schools to receive public funds for operation. These schools can be sponsored by local school boards, community colleges, higher education, education service dis tricts, or school boards from adjoin ing districts. Charter schools must have at least 25 students in atten dance and no more than 20 percent of the student population from each school district. At least 50 percent of the teachers in charter schools must be certified. “Our children are important con tributors to tomorrow s successes and charter schools can help them reach their full potential,” stated Sen. Hartung. “This is one way we can help give our children the qual ity education they all deserve.” dents and teachers rallied to propose solutions to such social concerns as natural energy conservation, tree preservation and traffic safety. The entries remind us that our children are well aware of the social issues that affect their every day lives. Their thoughtfulness demonstrates a wel come dedication to changing things for the better. “Intel’s Invention of the Future’ contest was a great medium to spur the students’ problem solving and critical-thinking skill, while rein forcing the need to be concerned about other people’s welfare," said Sherri Roberti, Jennifer’s teacher from Conestoga M iddle School. "On the whole, the students seem opti mistic about their future, as was reflected in their creativity with their contest entries.” As a Corporate Partner of the Smithsonian’s 150th anniversary celebration, Intel has a unique op portunity to reach a diverse national audience with its commitment to helping people understand and en joy technology. As the world’s larg est chip maker, Intel has played a significant role in the information revolution and in the development of today’s computer. In fact, Intel also had something to celebrate in 1996: the 25th anniversary of Intel’s introduction of the microprocessor, the “brain” of the computer. In addition to its “ Invention of the Future” contest, Intel has organized a number of technology literacy pro grams for Portland and surrounding areas. On display at “Americas Smithsonian" exhibition is Intel’s very own 3,000 square-foot technol ogy exhibit, complete with a 14-foot tall walk-in computer, livecomputer stations where visitors can experi ment with Intel Video Phone, as well as a movie called “More Than You Ever Imagined,” starring a talk ing microprocessor named Chip. Intel also sponsored a “Field Trip of Dreams” in which 3,000 students from 25 Portland-area schools will receive an all-expense paid trip to the “America’s Smithsonian” exhi bition and an overnight “camp-in” at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry' (OMSI), including the “Giants of Gobi” exhibit. The stu dents, whose schools were selected in a random drawing, will receive meals, T-shirts, snacks and bus rides to and from the exhibits. In each of the stops along the “ A m erica’s Sm ithsonian” tour, Intel’s PC Dads have been teaching people about the joys of computing in a down-home and engaging way. Without using any techno-talk, the PC Dads guide the non-techie in all of us through the “PC Frontier,” while providing tips on buying com puters, raising computer-savvy chil dren, safely going online and choos ing childrens educational software. In Portland, which is also the PC Dad’s hometown, they appeared at the OMSI on March 25. All of these illustrate the values that Intel shares with the Smithsonian Institution: a common commitment to learning and discov ery, to innovation and progress. South Africa discussed during annual Africa Symposium Economist George Ayittey, currently president o f the Free Africa Foundation and an as sociate professor at Ameri can University in Washing ton, D.C., is the featured speaker at the Third Annual Symposium on Africa taking place Saturday, May 3, at Portland State University. This year's symposium con siders “South Africa’s New Role as a Model for Economic George Ayittey Recovery in Africa,” and continues from 5 to 10p.m. in the Nordic Room (Room 26) in PSU’s Smith Center, 1825 SW Broadway. Cost ofthe symposium is $ 10 in advance, $ 12 at the door; includes d inner. Call 279-8822. Sponsors include Portland State's Association o f African Students (AAS) and the Society o f Africans, Residents o f North America (SARNA). CONGRATULATIONS TO GRASSROOT NEWS AND THEIR CLIENTS The Northwest Region of the Alliance For Community Media 1997’s Best of the Northwest AW ARD OF EXCELLENCE (C ategory: Documentary Title: "Death in the H ood” Producer: Lamta Duke, Grassroot News ; Clients: Dept. of Juvenile Justice; Self-Enhancement, Inc.; Yaun Youth Care; Private Industry Council; Multnomah County Violence Prevention; Portland’s House of Umoja AW ARD OF EXCELLENCE Catagory: Informational Title: "Girls in the Hood" Producer: Lanita Duke, Grassroot News Clients: Multnomah County Violence Prevention; Delauney Family of Services; Gift Family Services AW ARD OF EXCELLENCE Catagory: Cultural Diversity Title: ‘Wwanzoa - The First Fruit" Producer: Lanita Duke, Grassroot News Clients: Grassroot News Grassroot News would like to thank our clients, talent and our community fo r supporting and believing in us.
