Authentic Audience
The students work hard developing their project through out the year so we seek to provide them with authentic audiences to present their work to. There are a couple opportunities within Massachusetts but there are also opportunities that come up out of Massachusetts. These trip are to research conferences either national or international and afford the students an opportunity to set themselves apart in their resume by stating that they have presented at such conferences.
ICED Epic Challenge Student Exhibition
Each year, Dr. Camarda invites ICED Epic Challenge students to present their research to him the ICED Epic Challenge community. The past few years it is been at Kennedy Space Center in Florida in late April or early June and is hosted by his Epic Education Foundation. Typically the first day is travel with a fun air boat ride and helping to set up the venue. The second day, we get a "NASA VIP" tour that Dr. Camarda sets up which takes up onto the military base to see things you can't pay to see. The third day is a presentation day for the students. The cost ranges but has been coming in about $600 per student. See the 2019 itinerary for a sample of what the students experience. Our Photo Gallery has pictures from the last trip.
NCSSS Student Research Symposium
Nipmuc Regional High School is a member of the National Consortium of Secondary STEM Schools which hosts a Student Research Symposium each year. Typically it is the second weekend in June and has been conflicting with the ICED Epic Challenge Student Exhibition. However, in years they do not conflict we will try to put a trip together. Unfortunately, the announcement of place and time does not occur until March. The per student registration fee runs about $70 but then there is travel fees. It has been hosted by schools all over the US. In 2017, I attended with some students when it was hosted by Mass Academy & WPI.
University of Eastern Finland in Joensuu, Finland
The ICED Epic Challenge has participants at the high school and and university level. Dr. Camarda has been developing the program at the University of Eastern Finland for several years with a grant from NASA and the Finnish government. The curriculum in Finland is phenomenon-based and ICED Epic Challenge fits perfectly in that environment. I was invited by the leaders of the group after meeting them in person at the Kennedy Space Center. They were thrilled with my students' work and wanted us to come over and present at their university. So we went in the April of 2019. The cost was about $1800 per student. See the itinerary for a sample of what the students' experienced. Our Photo Gallery has pictures from the last trip.