Hello from the NWNC
Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 6:01 pmThe Wha??? North West Nuclear Consortium! http://www.nwnc.us.com WHAZZAT?? In an age when non-profits are groveling for nickels to stay alive, and the State has disemboweled the local school district to feed the coffers of its "general Fund", and we have a 33% drop out rate in high schools and 75% of our countries youth are not physically, academically or legally qualified to enter any branch of the armed forces, a very small group of older Geeks has decided enough is enough, and we are building a nuclear engineering experience for high school kids to die for. https://n3172061.readyexchange.net/lampoil/Fusor/Labs/Forms/AllItems.aspx The thought is; build it the way we wish our class rooms would have looked! Hence the finger print locks, 16 TV camera's, secret doors and the like. Oh, we will probably get raided by homeland security, we thought, or the department of health or the DOE, but this needs to happen!
Imagine our drop jawed amazement when the DOE, Federal Way School District and the Department of Health pitched in to help! Everything from curriculum elements, references and calming concerned neighbors, the government has been an ally, not the adversary! As long as we paid close attention to safety, and all of our personnel wore film badges that are checked monthly by an outside agency, no one wants to shut us down. We are now two years down the road, and things are really looking up. We have a rigorous schedule of demo's and science fairs all over the state of Washington this year. We have garnered engineers and physicists from many points in the physics industry who teach, mentor and critique our every move. Instead of just survive, this program has started to thrive! There is so much demand for the 12 student slots, the school has talked about holding a lottery for the available seats. What all this means is that our kids aren’t really stupid after all. They are capable of the greatness of past generations if we are willing to invest an appropriate amount of time and money. It takes both. If you just throw money at the problem, someone else will come along and raid those resources in a heartbeat. On the other hand our schools are full of teachers who are trying desperately to do with their time what only can be done with good tools and curriculum, and they are failing themselves in the process. Yes, I am the deep pockets behind this exercise, and I suppose I could have bought a Lamborghini instead, but the real reason I am doing this is because every week on Friday night my house is filled with the brightest and best kids in the state who haven’t become career cynics or lost their inertia playing video games. They still have an imagination! I have new and wonderful friends who are "technical fellows" according to their business cards and instead of a 6th grade dialogue about the latest sitcom, we are exploring the edge of space-time. This has become a puzzle, mystery and journey all at the same time. It's better than a rousing game of "MYST", and my wife and I are happy to continue to support and build as necessary so long as we continue to see double digit personal growth in these kids. Check out our photo gallery in the laft NAV of our web site. This year our "club" activities resulted in 3 scholarships, and internship at MIT and 10K in prize money that went to students and schools in the Federal Way area. http://youtu.be/9zl1Mg3jxTI
Imagine our drop jawed amazement when the DOE, Federal Way School District and the Department of Health pitched in to help! Everything from curriculum elements, references and calming concerned neighbors, the government has been an ally, not the adversary! As long as we paid close attention to safety, and all of our personnel wore film badges that are checked monthly by an outside agency, no one wants to shut us down. We are now two years down the road, and things are really looking up. We have a rigorous schedule of demo's and science fairs all over the state of Washington this year. We have garnered engineers and physicists from many points in the physics industry who teach, mentor and critique our every move. Instead of just survive, this program has started to thrive! There is so much demand for the 12 student slots, the school has talked about holding a lottery for the available seats. What all this means is that our kids aren’t really stupid after all. They are capable of the greatness of past generations if we are willing to invest an appropriate amount of time and money. It takes both. If you just throw money at the problem, someone else will come along and raid those resources in a heartbeat. On the other hand our schools are full of teachers who are trying desperately to do with their time what only can be done with good tools and curriculum, and they are failing themselves in the process. Yes, I am the deep pockets behind this exercise, and I suppose I could have bought a Lamborghini instead, but the real reason I am doing this is because every week on Friday night my house is filled with the brightest and best kids in the state who haven’t become career cynics or lost their inertia playing video games. They still have an imagination! I have new and wonderful friends who are "technical fellows" according to their business cards and instead of a 6th grade dialogue about the latest sitcom, we are exploring the edge of space-time. This has become a puzzle, mystery and journey all at the same time. It's better than a rousing game of "MYST", and my wife and I are happy to continue to support and build as necessary so long as we continue to see double digit personal growth in these kids. Check out our photo gallery in the laft NAV of our web site. This year our "club" activities resulted in 3 scholarships, and internship at MIT and 10K in prize money that went to students and schools in the Federal Way area. http://youtu.be/9zl1Mg3jxTI