By Katie Tolmachoff
There’s a new golden cup at Mark Twain Middle School that has sparked an interest and enthusiasm in science for students.
The 2012 Intel Northwest Science Expo, hosted by Portland State University, recently awarded Mark Twain Middle School The OMSI Award for school-wide enthusiasm for science.
Outreach Educator for Oregon Museum of Science and Industry Ian Sterry said judges from OMSI who evaluate projects presented at the science exposition “bestow this honor to the school that best supports OMSI’s strategic goals of health and science, technology and sustainability education.”
Sterry presented a traveling science assembly on May 14 as an added bonus to the large golden cup displayed at OMSI and engraved with Mark Twain Middle School’s name.
Mark Twain science teacher Daniel Jamsa was pleasantly surprised to receive the award.
“One thing I was proud of throughout was the enthusiasm and joy the kids brought to the event,” he remarked. “I also appreciated how they worked as a team.”
Receiving a group award was, Jamsa said, the most appropriate way to end the school’s first year presenting projects at the Northwest Science Expo.
Prior to assembling for OMSI’s traveling science extravaganza, the school dedicated its afternoon Advisory Group meeting to a round-robin presentation of eighth grade science projects to their Advisory Group teachers and seventh graders.
The presentations were interesting to all, and Jamsa added that he is hopeful that the enthusiastic feedback from the eighth graders for the seventh graders will help get them thinking about the event going into the summer.
“I am so proud of our students, our science department and our supportive staff,” Mark Twain Principal Dandy Stevens said. “This was definitely a collaborative effort, and the results were indicative of that.”
Stevens and Jamsa concur that the students’ enthusiastic approach to their projects and obvious interest in the sciences and engineering may propel them to higher levels of critical thinking and help prepare them for high school and beyond.
