United Tribes News
Readin’, ‘Ritin’, and…Rockets?By Cheryl Long Feather, Research Director
25 September 2009
BISMARCK (UTN) - While most high school students prefer to sleep in on any given Sunday, six local Native high school students recently used their Sunday to race balloons and shoot water bottle rockets on the United Tribes campus.
The students were on campus as part of the college’s EPSCoR-funded Sunday Academy Program. The Sunday Academy Program is designed to strengthen the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) areas for Native high school students, as well as increase their interest in those educational and career fields. The students spend most of the day learning STEM concepts and their cultural connection. UTTC’s first Sunday Academy event was held on September 20 and focused on physics and engineering concepts such as propulsion and aerodynamics, as well as basic research concepts such as testing a hypothesis, recording data, and data errors. Students not only learned these concepts, they had fun doing it. One student stated, “I enjoyed the hands on activities. It taught me to learn a better way. Overall, it was fun,” while another remarked, “I liked this day very much. I enjoyed everything about it. I learned many things today.” The Sunday Academy program is open to Native students in grades 9-12 and will be held one Sunday each month throughout the academic year.
Students attending the camp were Daniel Grassrope, Kristina Gange, Miranda Joshua, Red Red Bird, Jace Ducheneaux, and Allayne Long Chase. The next Sunday Academy will be held Sunday, October 18. For more information, contact Cheryl Long Feather, Research Director, at Ext. 1491.
