University of North Alabama

The Univeristy of North Alabama chapter of the Society of Physics Students takes pride in our focus on outreach to students in and out of college/university. For this particular outreach project, we want to target 11th grade students at Clements High School in Athens, Alabama. Our goal for this project is to lead a day of STEM related learning so the students can have exposure to material and activities related to different aspects of STEM fields. These students will be deciding which colleges and majors they want to select and apply for, and we of the UNA chapter want to encourage the exploration of STEM majors and fields as options for the future. The team of SPS members will conduct demonstrations and workshops with the students while Dr. Blake, the chapter advisor, holds sessions in the portable planetarium. We want to give participating students SPS stickers and pairs of light refraction glasses as thanks for participating while also making them functional and meaningful. We also want to make sure our team can be fed and travel to the school, as Clements High School is about 45 minutes away from our central campus. Clements High School is a Title I school and the alma mater of our chapter’s President. We wanted to conduct outreach to Clements as a way of helping broaden the horizons of the students and encourage the exploration of STEM disciplines, as the school has little available funding for STEM education.

Harmonie Wildharber

Mel Blake