Starbase is a school-year program for the Helena Public School district which focuses on elementary students, primarily fifth graders. After fifth grade our students are no longer able to go to the program, thus limiting their interaction and exploration with Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). Recently, the program was able to expand and are now creating an afterschool program, Starbase 2.0, at our district’s middle schools, Helena Middle and C.R. Anderson. Serving as the programcoordinator, I am now looking for volunteer mentors to help serve the students interested in the program.
The purpose of the program is to introduce as many students to STEM concepts as they continue their education. This program encourages students to set goals and achieve them. The program engages students through the inquiry-based curriculum with its "hands-on, mind-on" experiential activities. Math is embedded throughout the curriculum and students use metric measurement, estimation, calculation geometry and data analysis to solve questions. Teamwork is stressed as they work together to explore, explain, elaborate and evaluate concepts.
I am approaching local STEM-based firms in the area to look for volunteer mentors for a few reasons. The first, students would like to see faces from the engineering profession and work with them to understand the need for this knowledge. Second, having volunteers from the community will help create a different atmosphere for the students in hopes of building a stronger bond locally.
The program is an afterschool program and will ask you to be an unpaid volunteer a few hours each week. Start date for the Starbase 2.0 program is March 5th, 2019 and the program will run into May for a duration of 10 weeks of service for both Helena Middle School and at CR Anderson. We will have one day at HMS and one day at CR (Tuesdays and Thursdays) from about 3:00-5:00. Students involved in the program will have applied and will be excited to be part of it.If you are interested involunteering but can only commit to a fraction of what I have listed, we can work with you to find a group of rotating volunteers or you can find someone to split your time with.
As a volunteer you will be asked to attend a short training regarding the curriculum and interactions with students. If you are interested and would like to know more about the program or have questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail (the best option during school hours) or by telephone 406-231-2367. I look forward to having you be part of our program.
Have any questions? Contact Allison Sever in the Education Department at asever@carroll.edu or 406-447-4365.