The student news site of Mountlake Terrace High School in Mountlake Terrace, Washington.

The Hawkeye

The student news site of Mountlake Terrace High School in Mountlake Terrace, Washington.

The Hawkeye

The student news site of Mountlake Terrace High School in Mountlake Terrace, Washington.

The Hawkeye

STEM orientation night introduces eighth graders to pathways

MTHS students and staff hosted the annual eighth grade STEM night on Wednesday, Nov. 7 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Every year, MTHS hosts a STEM night to attract incoming ninth graders to join the STEM program.

The first half hour of the event started with James Wilson, a MTHS STEM teacher, briefly explaining what the STEM programs is about. The focus then shifted to a short explanation of all of the STEM related clubs. Each club president from Robotics (VRC and FRC), Rocketry, the Technology Student Association and IATRIX 21 made a brief speech about their clubs.

After the club presentations, three seniors from each of the three STEM pathways talked about their pathway in the theater. Teresa Bonilla talked about the Biotech Pathway, Daniel Leavitt talked about the Computer Science Pathway and Reece Newhouse talked about the Aerospace Pathway.

The second hour of the event split up the parents and the 8th graders. Biotechnology teacher Penny Lefavour talked with the parents more in-depth about all the opportunities that the STEM program can bring to their students. The eighth graders participated in three different activities relating to the each STEM pathways.

To represent the Biotech Pathway, students participated in an activity that allowed them to separate the DNA from a strawberry. For the Aerospace Pathway, students built little rockets. STEM students Katie Barry, Leo Krouper and Michel Smith volunteered to help the students launch their little rockets. Finally, for the Computer Science Pathway, eighth graders learned about binary codes and practiced writing them on a worksheet.

The last half hour of the event allowed the eighth graders and their parents to explore the STEM hallway and visit STEM classrooms. In each STEM class there was a showcase of STEM awards, clubs, projects, robots and rockets. By the end of the event, students and their parents went home with a newfound knowledge of the MTHS STEM program.

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About the Contributors
Nina Otebele, Outreach Manager
Nina Otebele is a sophomore at MTHS. This is her first year in Hawkeye as a staff member. Nina loves writing, which is one of the reasons she joined Hawkeye. She also joined Hawkeye to practice her photography skills. Outside of Hawkeye, Nina is an active Girl Scout, a member of the Rocketry Club and Vice President of Feminism Club. She is also apart of the Museum of Flight's apprenticeship program, where she gets to build her own exhibits for the museum.
Matthew Hipolito, Copy Editor
Matthew Hipolito, a senior, has been with the Hawkeye for four years: first as a staff reporter and later as copy editor. In addition to editing all copy, he is also second chair trombonist in MTHS's Jazz Ensemble I and in his fourth year in the STEM program. With Jazz I, he has attended the prestigious Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Competition and Festival twice, in 2017 and 2018; his section won Outstanding Trombone Section in 2018.
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