Fall 2022 Edition

Student Spotlight - STEMers in the Wild!

Learning In STEM

IndyCar Autonomous Challenge

Events & Announcements

Booster Club

NISD OLC Sign created by a STEM student using the CNC machine

in his NHS Ag Mech class

Fall Festival at the OLC

By Neill Shoemaker

It’s been a few years since we were able to visit the NISD Outdoor Learning Center so we were all excited to have an opportunity this fall. On November 9th, the STEM Academy visited the OLC in a zombie-themed field day event. With groups full of both upperclassmen and lowerclassmen, they took part in zombie-themed challenges throughout the day.

Each event required teamwork to obtain the most points and work towards their escape. Teamwork was a strong component of each challenge! It also helped all classes to meet one another and create new friendships with each other. With the weather clearing up in the day, it is clear that groups had enjoyed themselves and all successfully escaped the zombie apocalypse with one team winning the most points.

My favorite station at the OLC would be the zombie throw or the knot-tying stations. With the zombie throw, each person had the opportunity to gain points for the team, while also presenting a competition between two groups adding to the excitement. With the knot-tying station, students and I learned how to properly tie different knots, and do them within a specific amount of time. Giving students something to take away from this field trip.

Teams also participated in zombie “hand” toss with water filled gloves, eyeball relay races, a “bug out” box challenge, building a duct tape stretcher and using mapping skills to plan an escape route. All in all it was an awesome day of team building and STEM fun!

Student Spotlight - STEMers in the Wild!

By Reid Johnson

My name is Christopher Johnson, many of you in STEM know me as Reid. As some know, I race sailboats. My sailing career started when I was 3 years old. My parents started introducing me to boats and sailing. However legally it started when I was seven years old. I spent a summer learning how to sail then started racing sailboats.

Before I go any further I’m going to give some background knowledge. Sailing is not a uniform sport like Track, or Soccer. Sailing has different boat classes, each one is different. Some are large boats with hundred foot tall masts and thousand pound keels. Other smaller boats which are the Olympic classes are smaller boats; dinghies. This is why I started in a small training boat called the optimist, a box shaped bathtub like boat. It is a youth boat for young kids, which has surprisingly thousands of people all over the world. I spent 5 years as an optimist, it never really went anywhere. It was not until I moved to my current boat when my career started to take off. In those 5 years I did dozens of youth competitions all over Texas.

My coach was a man named Scott Lindley. Under Scott we went south to Corpus Christie, and the furthest I went was Florida. However, nothing really took off, it was not until I moved into the ILCA 6 or Laser. The Laser by comparison was a round bottomed boat, with a larger sail, and is in the Olympics. It was while sailing this boat I was recruited by Alex Dyet for an elite team of sailors called Gulf Coast Youth Sailing Association or GCYSA. This group, despite the name, recruits from all over the country. Under Alex’s guidance I have more than doubled my speed and have competed in events I never thought possible. These tactics used to advance the boat require me to be more active than the optimus ever was. One of these is called “S-curving” it uses the orientation of the lateen sails angle to the wind to sail “by the lee” to the turn quickly into the wind a few degrees trimming (pulling in) in the sail and using body weight to lean the boat to create the friction necessary to turn the boat without using the rudder to accelerate enough to catch a wave to surf. From this one wave I can repeat this process and jump from wave to wave without losing speed. All of this varies from how much sail trim must change to, body movement, to the depth of the sail/sail shape, and most difficult of all nothing is one uniform motion to learn every scenario is different.

Training just includes repeating motions like this for hours, just trying to be able to read the boat, by feeling the tension in the sail and the list (lean) of the boat from the waves, if there's current in the water, trying to catch extra puffs of wind. This one exercise however by no means makes up for sailing alone. There is also “up wind” sailing at an angle to the wind to sail indirectly into it. On a windy day the sailor expects to be hiking for what will feel like hours. Many may be thinking what hiking is, the best way I can explain it is. A reverse plank trying to keep your arms straight and hips up while facing the ceiling. Now take your arms away and in their place a strap is put over your feet to keep you up. However now your leg is a balance beam if it bends the boat could flip over, because your center of mass shifts in and the boat lists further over. But it's not just your legs like I said earlier the hips need to be kept up so the core is tight and the hips lifted. For as long as a person can go. This paired with driving through the wave, which if done improperly can lead to a wipe out.

Produce the most speed, most of what I have just spoken about is when there is lots of breeze when there is less it is slightly easier. Instead of “S-curving” there are roll tacks and roll jibes. These two things are essentially the same: use your body weight to make the boat nearly flip then jump to the other side just before it capsizes. Sounds simple enough, could be anything but if the timing for the entry into the motion is done improperly the whole thing might as well have been for nothing. To be clear a tack is turning into the wind a job is turning down and away. When I say an entry I am talking about a tack and turning into the wind. Once the front of the sail barley starts to flap, you essentially hike. Throw your whole body out trying to get as much leverage as possible. Then as soon as fully extended bounce right back in like a crunch. The boat should have a good bit of heel (lean or list) Grab the strap your feet are under and pull the boat on top of you. From there it's a race to get to the other side as the deck is perpendicular to the water. Once on the other side throw your shoulders out against bounce them back in, let the sail out and let go of the rudder which is steering the boat. All of this happens in less than 3-4 seconds. Between this tip of the ice berg I’ve talked about and the weather it can be intense. Some of the competitions I had spoken earlier about are the Pacific Coast Championships I competed in; in California. As well as the ILCA Youth Worlds, that was a massive event with over 275 competitors from 34 countries. While I did not place well in the event, the mere qualification was more than I could have dreamed. This is because to compete in the event you must first submit an application, not like a job application, you're a number in a global system, and your application is essentially submitting your number. This makes it difficult to go from small local events to large national and international events. As far as training goes, Fort Worth is quite far from the Gulf so my father and I or sometimes my mother will pick me up from school Friday, as soon as school is out, and for 5 hours we will drive all the way down to Houston. For a 2-day practice that starts at 8:00 am with a hour at the gym then 9-9:45 rigging (assembly or building) the boats, after which followed by a morning briefing which is about 20 minutes, then we put the boats in the water and will train for 6 hours come in take the boats apart have a 30 to 45 minute debrief, then show up Sunday and do it all again. Only on Sunday we drive home as well and won't get home until 11 or 12 o’clock at night sometimes. The way I’m able to balance STEM with this is that I do homework in the car. I've started using my computer mouse with my nondominant left hand because then I put my house on the center console. All in all that's the last 8 years-ish of my life wrapped up in a short 2 pages.

Learning In STEM

Exploring Water with ES

By Dylan Haynes

The PLTW Environmental Sustainability (ES) class has been learning about water and our impact on our resources. We were able to tour the Upper Trinity Water District and learn more about the processes used to produce clean water.

Background: The upper Trinity Regional water district was created by the State of Texas as a conservation and reclamation district in 1989. They’re a regional, non-profit government agency authorized to provide wholesale water, wastewater, solid waste, and stormwater (watershed protection) services in the Denton County area. The revenue is derived from the services that they provide rather than any power of taxation. The system was organized by the cities and utilities so that the system could be progressive, responsive, and for the needs of the people. On average around 35 million gallons of water is produced per day, or 13 billion per year in 2021 with the maximum capacity reaching 66 million on August 12, 2021. Safe to say that this water provider is important for providing clean usable water to many communities around North Texas.

The starting point of the field trip/tour of the upper Trinity Regional water district was the accounting offices. For this trip, we had a friendly tour guide named Blake show us around giving the class insight into the day-to-day activities that go on at the upper trinity. Blake had a background in wildlife conservation so we knew we had the best man for the job showing us around the facility because the trinity regional water district isn’t just about water treatment, it also includes many wildlife conservation initiatives so we can save the water that we have. As we made our way through the accounting office Blake led us to the board of directors meeting room which hosts meetings once a month with the different delegates from the communities that are served by the upper trinity treatment plant. It was interesting seeing that similar to our form of government the cities send delegates to represent their respective communities to discuss their town's needs when it comes to the water supply.

After viewing the large meeting room, we ventured outside and with a short hop, skip, and jump away we reached the main treatment facilities where the magic happens. When I looked upon the large storage containers that store and cleaned the water, I was in shock seeing large amounts of impurities floating around in the water. I was hoping that it was just different debris or dirt and not my original thoughts, but before we entered the control room, Blake gave a brief overview of where the water comes from, he stated that the water is pumped from Lake Lewisville to get treatment before reaching the consumers as it's dangerous to drink/consume non-treated lake water due to fecal coliform and bacteria.

Once the brief discussion was over, we walked into the control room catching Preston and Troy by surprise as they were on duty working. After the initial shock of us just showing up unannounced was done they got up and explained their roles and responsibilities at the plant which were monitoring the water quality and testing the water occasionally to see if anything changed. Me being me I scanned all the computers that they had around trying to understand the different graphs and charts, but the only thing I could understand was the excel logo on the screen. Blake then shepherded the class into the lab which was located in the back of the control room, then handed this part of the tour over to Preston and Troy. They go on to explain what they test for and how they clean the water. When testing they check PH levels, terpenes, coliform, and a list of other things. To test they’re always collecting freshwater samples due to this the tap runs 24/7. Upon hearing this I got confused because my first thought was “aren't you wasting water.” then they explained it’s all recycled back through the system. To clean the water, they use a chemical that binds to any bacteria that's located in the water making it sink to the bottom then they use a low-power bleach that they make on-site killing anything else that remains.

Venturing outside back to the storage tanks we saw this system in action with large clumps due to the chemical that they added. It was interesting to see that instead of leaving the bacteria sitting at the bottom large rakes are used to clean out the bottom storage containers allowing no build-up to occur. Looking around a bit more the class found another storage container that filters the water. Preston and Troy explained occasionally this container must be drained for new water to come in as this was

After viewing the container drain and filling back up we said our final goodbyes to Preston and Troy thanking them for showing us around the facility. Walking back down the path Blake talked to us about the wildlife conservation aspect of the upper trinity regional water district. He mentioned that in the summer almost 75% of the water used was for lawn care with many gallons of water wasted doing so. With that Segway, he showed us many plants that were less water-dependent located in the gardens by the main offices. These plants included shrubs, mesquite trees, and native flowers which all provided a net benefit to the environment. From my observations of these plants, I was able to find many bees and butterflies collecting nectar from the native flowers. I was caught off guard to see so many pollinators in such an urban environment thriving.

At this point, the field trip took a surprising turn. Blake led us to his car and got out the equipment he uses for fieldwork, and then suggested we head over to a nearby creek to test the water quality. Being an adventurous group, we took his offer up and headed out. When we arrived at the creek Blake got out a Bluetooth pH sensor to check the pH of the water and another sensor to check the speed of the flowing water. While that was going on he explained that every so often he has to check all the creeks flowing into Lake Lewisville. He must do this in order to gauge whether the creek needs to be a part of a clean-up initiative so that contaminants don’t enter Lake Lewisville. After pulling back the equipment the water was found to have a pH level of 6 with little water flow, but Blake mentioned that you need to test different areas of the creek in order to test the flow accurately. Once finished he headed back up to the offices and asked a couple of questions regarding Lake Lewisville and the environment learning new information such as Lake Lewisville being the old Lake Dallas and the most polluted stream going into Lake Lewisville was from Denton. When everyone finished asking questions, we said goodbye to Blake for guiding us around all day and making the trip interesting.

For me personally, the trip to the upper trinity regional water district expanded my interest in the water system and wildlife conservation. I felt that I connected more with Blakes's role because when tasked he gets to go out into the field and collect data firsthand on all the bodies of water located around the Lake Lewisville area. If given the chance I would love to go back and ask even more questions about the changes seen over time in all the bodies of water and records of the best and worst years for pollution.

Experiencing Science at UNT with ES

By Dylan Haynes & Matthew Pitts

Background: We were provided the unique opportunity to visit the University of North Texas (UNT), a tier one research university that is currently considered the second most sustainable in the state. In addition to this, they rank in the top 20 for their esteemed biology program, one that offers a wide range of mastery in ecology and environmental sciences.

Upon entering the school we were greeted by Marty, an expert in her field, who led us into a classroom in which we discussed watersheds and their effects / applications. To effectively paint a picture of the importance of watersheds and the planning that is necessary, we were tasked with creating a city that encompasses everything watersheds affect. This includes everyday things such as homes, stores, factories, farms, and churches; things that I had never considered were heavily affected by this thing I rarely see or interact with. Prior to this, I was oblivious to watersheds in general; I was taken aback upon learning how important they are not only to the environment, but in a political context as well. With China having control of the beginnings of various watersheds in Asia, they not only affect their nation but surrounding nations like India. If they were to dam the water, they could revoke this essential resource from billions of people.

In addition to this, we were able to meet a student named Cameron who is currently pursuing a doctorate degree in biology. He volunteered a moment of his time to discuss what he does and field any questions from us. Meeting Cameron was interesting due to us being able to hear his perspective of why he got into the field being a younger individual. This was truly special to us because it provided a different perspective that we wouldn’t get in another setting.

Another interesting thing we got to experience at our visit to University of North Texas was their planetary room. Where we got to learn about things like the nighttime sky, stars, and the relationship between the galaxy and the universe. We also got to watch one of their star related films that have full color HD productions, which gives the feeling of living the experience. We got to fly through space and see far away planets up close and look at other stars and moons.

IndyCar Autonomous Challenge

By Tanmayee Thalanki

On Friday, November 11th, NHS STEM sophomores took a field trip to the Texas Motor Speedway to watch the Autonomous Indy Car Races. Although the races were delayed due to the bad weather, the students got to experience some of the program.

Before the race, companies set up booths to show their work and career to all the STEM students that came. These booths opened us up to many more fields and let us experience what they do firsthand. One of the favorites was the robots. There were two robots, and you could see them shoot basketballs into a hoop with almost 100% accuracy. These robots definitely captured our attention and we were all gathered around it, cheering them on.

Many of us found booths that corresponded with their dream careers, and each booth helped them learn more about the career. Overall, this field trip was an amazing experience. We were able to expose ourselves to big companies and everyone had a place they belonged.

Strategies From A Stranger

By Neill Shoemaker

While OnRamps Physics can be quite challenging, I have identified and utilized some specific strategies that can alleviate pressure with exam preparation as well as general homework.

The most effective exam preparation tool is the Quest Review Generator. As we've seen in the last two exams, the majority of or at least a large portion of the exam is similar to the quest homework. This makes the Quest Review Generator an invaluable preparation resource. Upon review generation, students are provided practice opportunities with original values and an option to check their work. This opportunity has helped me understand, and comprehend how to reach the answers that will be needed to be successful, and with original values, I won’t see the same question twice, as well as the ability to check back on my work.

If the Quest Reviews are not enough for you to practice, OnRamps provides access to additional resources. Embedded in Canvas are content resources for each unit, they provide class lectures, explorations, and videos that may help you understand what you are being taught and asked of from the class. Additionally, OnRamps provides access to a college physics textbook and our instructor identifies problems in the textbook we can use as a review for the exam and apply to real-world situations.

Possibly the most effective tool available is our OnRamps instructor. He is knowledgeable and always willing to answer (and ask) questions. We may not always like the way he answers, but his responses are delivered in a manner that promotes the construction of knowledge and encourages peer-to-peer collaboration. In addition, I have found, there is a pretty good chance that his response is often focused on guiding students to something they will use in the future. An exam or homework question comes to mind.

These strategies have merit. It will take some time for these strategies to become a habit, but with enough effort, you may find success. Take the time to prepare, but also be confident in the fact that you can know and understand.

Runaway Airplane PBL

By Morgan Dinh & Aidan Dunckelman

What is the problem at hand? The problem is a real-world example of kinematics. What is kinematics? Kinematics is the branch of mechanics concerned with the motion of objects without reference to the forces which cause the motion. We were to apply what we learned in class, homework, and readings over kinematics. Using this knowledge, we needed to solve a problem involving Southwest Airlines flight 1248 which on December 8, 2005, overran the runway hitting a car killing a little boy in the process. We were given only a few data points which we need to use to find 2 unknowns. The problem tested our spirit of perseverance to keep working on the problem even though not getting anywhere in the problem. This PBL took many hours just to understand and many more to solve. It took knowledge from all different areas of math and science. We had to rely on our skills that we learned in algebra two while also using our newly learned physics skills.

Morgan: While the PBL was a test of our logical and critical thinking skills, it was important to the integral idea of perseverance. In the first PBL, my inexperience surfaced as I struggled with multiple and repetitive mistakes and confusion on the topic. With countless nights looking at previous readings and studying our equation sheet for a possible secret equation that would solve all my problems. However, while I struggled personally trying to find answers to the problem, I learned one of the most important concepts of the project: collaboration. For instance, when admitting my struggles in understanding how to solve the project I was able to gain advice and instructions on how to approach the problem from both teachers and friends. One of my reflections in this project is that I wished to have started earlier so the impending doom of the project did not become a shadow of constant stress.

Aidan: What were my struggles with this project? While working on this project I had no idea where I needed to start. It took me many hours just to even get an understanding on how to go about solving this problem. I spent many hours working on a board just trying to see how the different unknown variables would line up with the equations given to us. Once I started to get an understanding of how to go about the problem I felt as if I was getting places. However, when doing the math my equations would equal 0 = 0. This led to many hours of frustration and wondering what I was doing wrong. After spending hours on this equation, I wanted to give up. However, I took a step back and realized that I was going about this problem wrong. I over complicated the problem and overlooked remarkably simple equations to solve this problem. This project tested my perseverance by spending over 12 hours the wrong way of dealing with the problem. Once I figured out how to solve it correctly, I felt much better, and it made me realize that it is better to split out the problem and look at what the question is asking and not just going in a trying to solve off the bat but put more thought into it beforehand .

STEM Summit

By Owen Conner and Divya Patel

On September 21, 2022, the STEM Academy hosted the second annual STEM Summit where we welcomed guest speakers from various industries to speak to and interact with current STEM Academy students. This was a day where students were able to gain insight into why science, technology, engineering, and math are so important and how they are utilized daily in the workforce.

Students were allowed to select sessions that were of interest to them to attend. The day kicked off with our critical friends process where under-classmen listened to and provided feedback to senior presentations of their project ideas for their EDD class. After the critical friends sessions, students moved to their choice selected sessions. There were sessions on how to join ACE: Architecture, Construction, and Engineering and what types of projects they create, information from a local house inspector, insight from an intern at Farmer Bros, and representatives from the US Coast Guard and Army National Guard, to name a few. The summit also included student and teacher-led sessions such as soldering techniques, exploring the innovation lab, and how to build a personal brand. Overall, students were enlightened about the wide range of professions that they may have not previously considered related to STEM.

After speaker sessions ended, students took a break for lunch, and afterward, they reported to their advisory teacher's classroom where they spent time working on their ePortfolios by applying what they learned from the speakers throughout the day. The freshmen, specifically, spent about an hour working on their own and then shared with a partner to give and receive feedback. This helped make adjustments to their products. Our guest speakers were exceptional, and our STEM students were engaged. We are already looking forward to next year’s summit.

Check out some of our awesome sessions: https://stemsummit22.sched.com/

Engineering is Everywhere

By Zoe Odems

Some argue that engineering isn’t everything; as a STEM student, I’d like to counter that: everything is engineering. This semester in my Project-Based Learning (PBR) class, I’ve worked towards taking my engineering and design skills to the dance floor, and soon, the runway! Fashion is a huge part of self-expression, I’ve always played dress-up and dreamt of designing my own clothes. This year, thanks to the support of my peers and STEM teachers, I was able to make my own homecoming dress.

Engineering truly is everywhere. In its simplest nature, engineering is the process of identifying a problem and solving it. To expand on that, it can often take trial and error, as well as critical thinking. In my opinion, engineering isn’t a practice specific to the STEM Academy, engineering is a life skill.

I exercised this life skill by following the engineering design process. My issue was that I didn’t have a homecoming dress; homecoming was in two weeks, that’s a bit of a problem. Optimistically, I ransacked my room. I knew how to sew, I owned a sewing machine, and I found an old, satin-like curtain in the pantry. During class, I made a sketch of a dress. The only thing limiting me was time and my own mental blocks.

The first thing I did, after finding materials, was plan. I sketched different pieces of fabric I’d need on scratch paper. Since I didn’t have a pattern, as well as no car and no time to waste on shipping, I elected to create my own. I used simple rectangles and triangles, later transferring my sketches to a large sheet of grid paper. I overcame my first mental block by making my first cut. I had limited fabric, only a 63-inch curtain panel, but I knew I couldn’t just stare at my rectangles for another two days. I was scared, but I cut my first piece. I messed up. I switched spots and cut again, telling myself, “If I messed this dress up, I’d be in the same place I was in before I got the idea. I’d have no homecoming dress. I have other dresses anyways.” I kept that thought in the back of my mind as I fixed my mistake, now being even more careful with my limited resources.

Materials and tools were easily accessible thanks to Mrs. Garrett, who was next door to the Aerospace workshop, my makeshift boutique. She supplied me with everything I needed, hole punches, paper, seam rippers, everything. I had all the creative leeway and space, courtesy of Mr. Bradshaw, my PBR teacher. He allowed me to use the shop and approved my magazine as a suitable weekly progress check. Rather than receiving an essay in APA format, he received a ‘Teen Vogue’ style, colorful publication, complete with editor’s notes, pictures, covers, and an online subscription. The biggest fan of my dress had to be Ms. Williamson, I showed her the design two weeks before homecoming, at that time it was but a dream and a sketch. She had the best reaction to the finished product and was always happy to encourage me as I showed her my progress. I have my advisory peers to thank for their support as well. Many selflessly volunteered to be temporary mannequins in the assembly phase. I owe them all of my gratitude for their arms!

The most discouraging part of the engineering design process could easily be the testing and improving phase. My heart shattered to bits when I realized I couldn’t attach my skirt in the fashion I wanted to. Since the fabric I used didn’t stretch, there was no way to preserve the one-piece-ness of the dress and the corset-back. I had a firm hold on the back, as it was the centerpiece of the dress. This is where I encountered another mental block. I had to think outside of the box, both quickly and uniquely. This issue couldn’t be solved with basic knowledge. After a breakdown, my tireless two weeks had led to a huge issue, the homecoming dance was the next day; I gathered my excess ribbon and sewed it to the top of my circle skirt. This allowed the skirt to be manually tightened, the ribbons were concealed under the bodice. While this solution was very thrown-together and “MacGyver-ish”, it worked. I had a complete, hemmed skirt that looked completely normal.

All of the tears were worth it when I stepped out of my mother’s car. “What happened to the dress you made Zoe? Did you just end up buying one?” a friend asked upon seeing the dress. I smiled, knowing my dress was a dress rather than an attempt. “Nope,” I answered simply, “this is the one I made!” Compliments and questions were heard all night. My pleased response was the same every time, “I made it myself!” The magic never wore off those four words, I danced the night away; I knew I looked good, I had no worries regarding the stability of the dress. Homecoming was twice as sweet; I had made it work for myself.

Certifications in PC

By Nathan Smith & Josh Stecker

What is TestOut PC Pro?

The primary purpose of the TestOut PC Pro certification is to verify the necessary skills to work as an IT support professional. In an IT support job, you’ll be asked to install, repair, configure, secure, and manage computer hardware, operating systems, and software in home or corporate environments. These are the most basic and foundational skills required of all IT professionals. Additionally, communication, listening, and analysis skills are essential for interacting with customers.

What Have We Learned So Far?

We have learned many skills so far during this course. Some of these skills include learning how to use the basic functions of a computer and how to install peripheral devices such as printers, mice, and keyboards. We also learned how these devices interact with the computer itself as there are many different types of ports that can be used on a PC to connect certain things. For example, you would use a USB-A port to connect a keyboard or mouse while you would use an ethernet port to connect an ethernet cable which gives you internet access over a wired connection. These devices communicate with the operating system on the PC through the CPU (Central Processing Unit). The CPU is like the brain of the computer. It tells the computer everything to do and is essential for any device to function. Whether that’s your phone that you carry around every day in your pocket, your TV, or even your microwave has a CPU.

How Is Our Learning Beneficial?

Our learning is beneficial because the certification can be applied to any IT-related career. The PC Pro certification also provides 1 year of experience before entering an IT career, this will give us a higher chance of achieving a job in Information Tech. Information Technology is a growing career field with evolving technologies and it is important for any IT professional to be able to identify and troubleshoot an error within a computer system. The IT professional should also be able to communicate with the customer about the error, so the error is less likely to happen. These are extremely important skills to learn and are taught by the TestOut PC Pro course.

Cybersecurity

By Hunter Scanlon

Cybersecurity is one of the most in-demand jobs today. With the ever growing popularity of cyberattacks, it is important that there are people that can combat these attacks. This is why it is essential to have classes like cybersecurity that can educate people on these attacks. For the average person, this class might seem overwhelming, and even for someone with prior experience, it is still has a lot of difficult concepts to grasp.

What a lot of people don’t realize going into this class is that there are so many concepts that most have never heard of before. I’ll give an example of something you probably use everyday but have no idea about it: A firewall, which is a form of network security that blocks or allows certain protocols from entering or exiting your network. If that sounds complicated, just picture the internet as a massive highway with cars and exits. Each exit is known as a “port”, or a where a connection starts and ends. The firewall sits in between the exit that you are located on and the highway and acts like a border patrol that checks if you’re on a permitted list and permits entry if you are and denys entry if you are not. This one concept is one of the biggest topics in the course because of how it ties into everything else.

Another thing you probably use everyday but probably have no idea about how it works is an antivirus. There’s a common myth that if you have an antivirus, you can’t get a virus, and it may seem like that would make perfect sense until you realize how antiviruses work. These types of software work on what are known as virus “definitions” which can be pictured as a dictionary. All the code for a virus is stored in the definition list and when the computer is scanning files, it checks to see if the code matches any code in the list and if it does, it will get flagged as a virus. Unfortunately, you might already have predicted that if a virus is new or unknown, the antivirus won’t detect it. Even though there are heuristics which detect if a software is doing suspicious actions, it is still possible to bypass these protections. If there’s one thing to take away from this entire article, it’s to keep everything up to date since most hackers don’t care who they’re targeting, they just will find who is easy to attack.

Even though cybersecurity may seem like an overwhelming and difficult class, relating it to real world scenarios and objects can help anyone understand the concepts in this class. Next semester, we will be covering even more advanced concepts like virtualization and cryptography which build on the foundations taught earlier in the course. Though they may seem complex, knowing how to relate them to the real world can help accelerate grasping them.

Events & Announcements

STEM Rookie Camp

In early August, STEM incoming freshmen were invited to come to Northwest High School to participate in fun activities and learn more about what the STEM Academy is all about.

One of the main activities was a catapult-building competition where each team consisted of three freshmen, each team designed a catapult and after their design got approved, they went on to the building phase where they had to use a short list of materials to construct their design and after finishing the building phase, they tested their catapults by launching a ping pong ball from one table to another trying to get it to land inside of a container. Afterward, students took note of their results and modified their catapults to prepare for the final round. This round consisted of having a time limit to see how many ping pong balls that your catapult could launch and land into the container and the team that landed the most balls into the target zone won and the grand prize was none other than, bragging rights.

Along with the fun activities, the incoming freshmen got to learn more about who their future classmates were by playing various games which one of them was a called icebreaker Jenga where after grabbing a jenga block, freshman had to answer a question that corresponded with a number on the block they picked which overall just helped the freshmen learn more about their peers and get more familiar and comfortable with their future classmates. Also, freshmen learned more about STEM from STEM seniors by at the end of the day, doing a Q&A where freshmen were given the opportunity to ask questions to seniors about anything they were wondering about involving the STEM Academy.

Overall, this event was a excellent experience for freshmen, teachers, and all of the volunteering upperclassmen who really made this experience one to remember.

Game Night

By Elizabeth Eligio

After the final bell rings and the students rush out the doors, the halls of Northwest usually lay vacant, with the occasional club meeting or student studying. However, once a quarter, you may hear the sounds of laughter and cheering that accompany STEM game night echo throughout the building. Approaching such a sound would soon lead to the smell of pizza wafting through the air and the once barren halls of the STEM academy packed with life. Notes erased on whiteboards are filled with tournament standings and strategies. People who have never met before are in an intense game of chess. Winners of tournaments stand triumphantly with their prizes. With cards, virtual reality headsets, Xboxes, Playstations, Nintendo Switches, Dungeons and Dragons, and even more, there’s something for everyone there. The hours will fly by, and chances are you’ll leave knowing more people than when you walked in. This event is one of many which bind the STEM academy together, yet is still so unique.

Homecoming: STEM Style

By Tessie Rozell

Every year, our academy participates in our school’s homecoming parade. In short, the parade is a competition between clubs, sports, school organizations, and each grade for awards dictating the best parade float of the homecoming season. This year’s theme for our school was ‘Texan’s through time,’ a theme where we would choose decades. We were limited with the years we could choose, starting from the 1950’s, when our school was built, to current day.

As an academy, we chose to do our theme based off of the popular movie ‘Back to the Future.’ Although we didn’t choose a specific decade for our theme, we still decided to push through and choose this due to the fun-factor. Members of STEM Council and STEM student both came together to work on our float and hallway decorations, coming in both during and after school, even working over the weekends to prepare for the parade!

The commitment to building and creating our parade float paid off, our float drove in the parade and people loved the reference and idea. Images of the float can be found to the right, showcasing the hard work we did! STEM students dressed up, including beloved characters such as Marty McFly, Doctor Emmett Brown, Biff Tannen, and George McFly, and even the futuristic Hoverboard! These characters were played by Lauren Durbin, Tessie Rozell, Evan Garcia, Aidan Sanders, and Alex Earnhart respectively, all shown in the pictures. The float was not only a hit with the kids, but appreciative parents who loved the movie released in 1985.

In the end, the hard word paid off. After the parade, a pep-rally was held, and the winners for each category were announced. STEM’s ‘Back to the Future’ float won Homecoming 2022 ‘Best float in theme.’ We’d like to thank everyone who donated, helped, and participated in the Homecoming Parade with us! We hope anyone who partook in or watched the annual parade enjoyed it just as much as we did!

What is Rocket Club?

By Chiamaka Anude & the marketing team

Who We Are

Northwest High School physics and aerospace teacher, Randall Bradshaw, sponsor’s our very own Rocket Club. Rocket Club is a place for students interested in aerospace engineering to build rockets with mentorship from an experienced aerospace engineer. Students can gain certifications and be able to watch their creations in action.

Making Our Mark

More recently, the rocket club introduced a marketing team. Our job as the marketing team is to showcase these students’ abilities and create a sense of community within the rocket club while putting our art and social skills to the test. Our team’s addition provides inclusivity by giving students the option of either being a part of the marketing or the engineering side of aerospace.

TARC

This school year, our Rocket Club is a part of The American Rocketry Challenge (TARC) and is working hard to compete. The American Rocketry Challenge is the world’s largest rocket contest with nearly 5,000 students participating every year. With the northwest’s rocket club our students get an opportunity to go against the best of the best and put our skills to the test.

Introducing New Tradition

The marketing team’s main goal to to showcase all of the student’s hard work, dedication, and engineering capabilities. In order to do this, we decided on highlighting “members of the week” to give recognition to hard workers. This will include an interview with the member as well as pictures and little tidbits of what they're working on, posted on our Instagram page. This helps push our goals of creating a more community center atmosphere and relationships between students.

Rocket Club: A Freshman Perspective

By Elizabeth Eligio

One of the best things about joining rocket club as a freshman or someone new to aerospace is that you don’t need any prior knowledge or experience. It helps, but no matter what you’ll end up learning something new every meeting. Just three months ago I barely knew where to start when it came to building rockets, and now I can make one from scratch. The older members and teachers are amazing at showing new members how to do things and giving them the tools to learn as well. You do still need to put in some effort however. While the club officially meets after school every Wednesday, members from each team come together before school, during iNvest, and after school to work on their rocket. You’d be surprised how long it takes to make a complete, functional rocket, especially to fit a set of requirements.

Speaking of, The American Rocket Challenge. While rocket club is fun for building personal rockets, participating in TARC is where most members, including me, tend to fall. This year's TARC building (launching will come later) requirements are:

It can’t be over 650 grams.
Has to be over 52.6 In.
F or under motors.
Motors must be properly secured in the rocket
Charges are only allowed if in the premade motor
It must contain a 55 to 61 gram hen’s egg with a diameter of 45mm or less
It must have an altimeter that can report altitude within 1 ft of error

Qualification flights aren’t for a while, but my team has already pretty much solidified a design.

On the topic of my team, rocket club is also great for meeting people. I knew no one going into the first meeting, and now I can confidently say I have at least 3 more friends from participating. Even if I stand there repetitively sanding rocket parts, it’s still a good chance to hang out. Joining rocket club as a freshman with no experience won’t make you feel left out or like you’re of no use because of your lack of knowledge, but the opposite. It is an amazing opportunity if you want to go into the aerospace industry or just like building and launching

The "ACES" TARC Team

By Alex Earnhart, Zack Eldridge, Andreas Parrilha, Aidan Rosas, Josh Santos, & Neill Shoemaker

As a continuation of the previous year’s fervor, the Rocket Club has decided to keep participating in The American Rocketry Challenge, TARC. This year’s challenge is to take a rocket with one egg up to 850 feet and back in 41-45 seconds. The rocket must also completely split and separate on its way back down. Compared to last year’s challenge, it is easier to implement, but many of the current rocketry experts in the club have claimed that the competition will be steeper as other teams will have an easier time as well.

Last year’s competitors: Alex, Joshua, Neil, Aidan, and Andreas, along with four new rocketeers, Hunter, Zach, Ryan, and Gabe, have recently established the new Aces team. They have charged headfirst into the competition by meeting over the summer, discussing their ideas, and establishing their goals for the upcoming school year. To get ahead of the curve, the Aces team has been hard at work in the workshop for the past few months. Their goals this year were to start construction in early September, get as many flights as possible, and have a well-made competition rocket built before the first semester was over. So far the team has already created and tested their first prototype rocket to confirm their design.

The first rocket used leftover materials from the previous year’s competition. It featured improvised parts, experimental tubular fins, and it gave the Aces team a run for their money. When they tested this new rocket, they quickly learned that they would need a stronger set of tubular fins as the current cardboard-based fins were too weak and fell off as the rocket launched. The team experimented with a stronger, thicker material called blue tube which is often used in tank ordinance and other large military munitions. Those tubes provided the strength needed for the design to work, but were too dense and heavy to be practical for this competition’s purposes. The team, after researching alternative materials, decided to invest in carbon fiber. Carbon fiber can be as strong as the blue tube if formed correctly while being a fraction of the weight.

Over the past few weeks, the team has been creating composite tubes using scrap fiberglass. They have been practicing composite layups to not waste the expensive carbon fiber material, while also enhancing their skills in the process of rolling and epoxying the material. The team has recently rolled their first carbon-fiber tube, and are patiently waiting to see the final results after weeks of practice. If the tube has been created correctly, the team will be able to carefully fabricate their new tubular fins.

The second rocket that the team has built will use the new composite tubular fins along with brand-new parts that arrived. It will be the highest quality rocket that the team is planning to build, and if it performs well enough, it might even serve as the final competition rocket.

The team is confident enough in their abilities that they just might be able to make the finals this year.

STEM Fest

Do you know a 4th or 5th grader who is interested in rockets, science and hands-on experiments? Invite them to register for our STEM fest! A day of exploration and innovation ~

STEM Fest will be held on Saturday, January 28 at NHS. We are hosting two sessions - morning and afternoon.