NC-MSEN Pre-College Program 2011 Major Events

2011 P.E.R.S.I.S.T. Fall Leadership Development Program

A group of NCSU P.E.R.S.I.S.T. students attending the 2011 P.E.R.S.I.S.T. Fall Leadership Development
Program at The Eastern 4-H Center in Columbia, NC. The overnight program allowed participated students to
learn about leadership and teamwork skills, as well as to bond with one and other and create possible lifelong
friendship. The overnight program was a success based on the overwhelmingly positive verbal comments we
have received so far. Results of official evaluation will be poster later. Please click here to see a PowerPoint slide
show that includes photos taken at the overnight program.

Weldon Middle School 7th Graders Students Get University Exposure by Participating in the
NCSU NC-MSEN Pre-College Program (PCP)

A group of 7th graders from Weldon Middle School got university exposure by participating in the NCSU NC-MSEN PCP.
To learn more, please click here to read the article.

UNCCH and NCSU NC-MSEN Pre-College Program (PCP) Students Received Scholarship!

We are pleased to announce that Miss Jennifer Alexandra Brown and Miss Paula-Ann Elizabeth Chin are the two 2011 recipients of the
NC-MSEN Pre-College Program (PCP) Scholarship, which is generously supported by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation. They were
selected as the 2011 most qualified candidates because of their exceptional academic achievement, community service, extra-curricular activities,
and NC-MSEN PCP years of participation. Miss Brown will be entering Harvard University this fall and majoring in biochemistry. Her career
goal is to become a university professor and a research scientist. Miss Chin will be entering University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill this fall
and majoring in biology and psychology. Her career goal is to become a behavioral neuroscientist. Congratulations to both Miss Brown and
Miss Chinn for their outstanding achievements. We wish them much success in their future post secondary and career endeavors.

Fayetteville State University - Host of the 25th Annual MSEN Day

25th Annual MSEN Day
Theme: 25 Years of Excellence in Promoting S.T.E.M. Careers and Life Choices

On Saturday, April 30th, Fayetteville State University (FSU) hosted over 800 talented middle school and high school students in an exciting
array of competitions to celebrate NC-MSEN’s 25th annual MSEN Day. This event is a highlight in the NC-MSEN Pre-College Program calendar,
which seeks to broaden the pool of students pursuing mathematics and science-based majors and careers.

NC-MSEN oversees Pre-College Program sites at Elizabeth City State University (ECSU), Fayetteville State University (FSU), NC Agricultural &
Technical State University (MC A&T SU), North Carolina State University (NCSU), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNCCH),
University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC), and Winston-Salem State University (WSSU). Middle school and high school students participate
in year-round programs at these sites, and students from all these locations participated in MSEN Day.

Following registration at 8:00 AM, the participants attended an opening ceremony. Remarks were provided by Elijah Davis and Kristy Mitchell,
FSU PCP Alumni and former FSU Chancellor’s For A Day; Dr. James A. Anderson, FSU Chancellor; Dr. Leontye L. Lewis, Dean of FSU School
of Education; Mr. Grayling B. Williams, Interim Director of FSU Math and Science Education Center (MSEC); Mr. Branten Church, Admission
Counselor of FSU Office of Admission; Dr. Leo Edwards, Former Director of FSU MSEC; and Dr. Rita L. Fuller, Director of NC-MSEN PCP.
Ms. Chenga Howard, FSU PCP Alumni also sang a beautiful song at the opening ceremony.

Following the ceremony, the students broke out into specialized teams to compete for honors in different challenges. The overall winners for the
daylong competition included the following: first place - NCSU, second place - UNCC, and third place - WSSU. The oratorical winners were
Keenen Evans from ECSU and Tabreah Tatem also from ECSU for the middle and high school competitions, respectively. Hundreds of medals,
including gold, silver and bronze were awarded to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winning students and teams. Please click to view a video of the opening
ceremony (provide by FSU NC-MSEN PCP). Please also click to view snapshots taken on MSEN Day (in pdf). The complete winner list of 2011 MSEN
Day to be followed.

UNCCH NC-MSEN PCP Tar Heel Team Competed in the NCFIRST Regional Robotics Competition

Congratulations to UNCCH NC-MSEN Pre-College Program Robotics team for participating in the NCFIRST regional robotics competition
on April 7-8, 2011 in the Dorton Arena, Raleigh, NC. The team was featured in the WRAL news. Please click to read the news article, see the
picture and videos of their Robot (#3331).

Way to Go Dianne, Rebecca and the participating UNC PCP students. You made us all proud!

Congratulations to NC-MSEN PCP NCSU Robotics 'Dream Team' for Bringing Home the Gold -
Hosted by UNC Pembroke Robotic Olympic Games on April 2, 2011

The 2011 Robotic Olympic Games hosted by Jose D’Arruda at UNC Pembroke on Saturday, April 2nd was outstanding!
S tudents of our NC-MSEN PCP NCSU Robotics 'Dream Team' represented their team very well. They were scheduled to
compete in four robotic challenges; however, the team quickly worked together and designed more robotics to complete
seven total challenges. As a result, the team brought home four first place awards and two seven place awards. Below are the
team results; however, everyone was a winner!

First Place Award - 4 Winning Teams:

1. Alex Chen for the “Over the Wall Bucket Toss”
Please check out his winning design by visiting http://www.uncp.edu/chem_phy/robo/Over%20the%20Wall%20Bucket%20Toss-1.pdf

2. Daniel Nguyen and Jared Weathersby for the “Dizzy Drills”
Please check out their winning design by visiting http://www.uncp.edu/chem_phy/robo/dizzy.pdf

3. Naila Segule, Caity Caggia, Sorena Dadgar, and Katie Hutchinson for the “Collect the Cans”
Please check out their winning design by visiting http://www.uncp.edu/chem_phy/robo/collect%20the%20cans-1.pdf

4. Naila Segule, Caity Caggia, Sorena Dadgar, and Katie Hutchinson for the "Following Lines"
Please check out their winning design by visiting http://www.uncp.edu/chem_phy/robo/LineFollowingchallenges2008-4.pdf

Seven Place Award - Two Winning Teams:

1. Naila Segule, Caity Caggia, Sorena Dadgar, and Katie Hutchinson for the "Slalom"
Please check out their winning design by visiting http://www.uncp.edu/chem_phy/robo/roboslalom.pdf

2. Denise Gersch and Amber Raiford for the “Maze”
Please check out their winning design by visiting http://www.uncp.edu/chem_phy/robo/mazerun.pdf

Everyone was a winner and a team player!!! Congratulations!!

To learn more about the 2011 Robotic Olympic Games, please click to read the article (in pdf).

NC-MSEN Pre-College Program (PCP) Opens Doors of Opportunity for Students

The UNC Chapel Hill NC-MSEN Pre-College Program (PCP) sent three teams (one middle and two high school) to participate
in the National and East Coast Regional Science Decathlon Tournament held at Chewning Middle School on March 26, 2011.
Due to budget and traveling constraints from the West Coast teams, the National and East Coast Regional Science Decathlon
were combined for 2011. The students will earn both National and Regional recognition at this tournament. The National Science
Decathlon was scheduled for April 23rd in Atlanta, GA.

The Science Decathlon tournament is made up of ten Team Events and four Pilot Events. The Science Decathlon divides students
between two divisions ‘A’ (9-12th grades) and ‘B’ (6-9th grades). A Science Decathlon team consists of up to six students and up
to two alternates. This year the UNC CH NC-MSEN PCP teams consisted of five (5) students and no alternates. Students received
National and East Coast medals for 1st, 2nd or 3rd place in a given Team or Pilot Event. The top three teams with the most overall
points received trophies. The UNCCH NC-MSEN PCP high school teams won 1st and 2nd place overall trophies.

There is an article in the Herald Sun (See link below) written about the National Science Decathlon and several UNCCH NC-MSEN
PCP students were featured. The pictures in the article are some of the UNCCH NC-MSEN PCP students. Please check out the article.

http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story_news_durham/12515070/article-For-National-Science-Decathlon-students---it-s-just-fun-?instance=main_article

Geard Fossett, an UNCC NC-MSEN PCP student was a 3rd Place poster winner at the North Carolina Junior Science and
Humanities Symposium (NCJSHS) that was held on March 20-21, 2011 at the UNC Charlotte Center for Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education. The title of his research was “Developing a Solar Energy Harvesting System
for Wireless Sensors.” For six weeks in summer 2010, Geard worked with Dr. Robert Cox in the Department of Electrical &
Computer Engineering on the campus of UNC Charlotte.

Congratulations to Geard!

To learn more about NC JSHS, please visit http://education.uncc.edu/cmste/jshs/.

UNCC NC-MSEN Pre-College Program (PCP) Student Won State Award
at the 2011 NC Regional INTEL International Science and Engineering Fair

UNC Charlotte NC-MSEN PCP student, Gabrielle Nortey, won 2nd place for the NA American Water Works Award at the
2011 NC Regional INTEL International Science and Engineering Fair. She was recognized in the Charlotte Observer for her
award and being part of the State Science Fair. Please click to see the newspaper clip. (in pdf format)

NC-MSEN Pre-College Program (PCP) Opens Doors of Opportunity for Students

The NC MSEN NCSU PCP was featured on Time Warner’s Connect a Million Minds (CAMM) segment. It was a 5 minute segment.
Please click here to see the clip or the Weblink provided below.

http://triangle.news14.com/content/connect_a_million_minds/635745/students-give-up-their-weekend-to-learn-science-and-math

NC-MSEN Pre-College Program 2010 Major Events

NC-MSEN Pre-College Program (PCP) Opens Doors of Opportunity for Students

ECSU NC-MSEN Pre-College Program (PCP) students are featured on the ECSU website during the week of November 22, 2010.
Please visit ECSU main web page under the heading NEWS ROOM and they are featured under "MSEN Opens Doors of Opportunity
for Students." It details the NASA Grant and NC-MSEN PCP in general. Direct Web link to the press release is as follows.

http://www.ecsu.edu/administration/ia/urm/headline.cfm?ID=11480

UNC Charlotte (UNCC) NC-MSEN Pre-College Program (PCP) Student on Fox News Rising

On Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2010, nine of UNCC NC-MSEN Pre-College Program (PCP) students participated in the GIS Day 2010
at Sprit Square in Charlotte, NC. Please take a moment to look at the interview of one of the participating UNCC PCPstudents,
Mallory Finch, on Fox News Rising.

http://www.foxcharlotte.com/news/top-stories/Where-in-the-World-is-Wilson-108678319.htm

To learn more about the GIS Day, please visit
http://charmeck.org/mecklenburg/county/GeospatialInformationServices/gisday/Pages/default.aspx.

NC-MSEN PCP P.E.R.S.I.S.T. First Fall Leadership Conference was featured in the
The Public School Forum's Friday Report on October 8, 2010

Forum News…

Teaching Fellows Program Collaborates with NC MSEN to Encourage Students to Pursue Science and
Mathematics Teaching Careers

For the past three years, the Public School Forum’s Project Teach initiative has sought to broaden its outreach efforts
beyond identifying and preparing prospective minority Teaching Fellows candidates within its 24 school system target
zone. Danny Bland, the Forum’s Director of Teacher Recruitment and Coordinator for Project Teach, has reached out to
and worked with various college preparatory programs and institutional initiatives statewide. Partnerships have been
forged with programs such as GEAR-UP, AVID, FTA, the Teacher Cadet Program, and the College Foundation of North Carolina (CFNC).

The latest collaborative effort culminated on Saturday October 2nd with the NC MSEN PERSIST Scholars Fall Leadership Conference
themed, “Pathways to Teaching”. Mr. Bland assisted Dr. Rita Fuller, NC MSEN Director and Mr. Braska Williams, NC State University
MSEN Site Coordinator in planning the conference for 55 high school students from across the state participating in the PERSIST
Scholars Program. The conference was held at the Friday Institute on NC State University’s Centennial Campus from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.

Pre-College Experiences to Recruit Students Into Science Teaching is a science and mathematics teacher recruitment program for high
school students with high potential, but who may not have been encouraged to pursue mathematics or science teaching as a career. It is
sponsored by a Burroughs Welcome Fund grant to the North Carolina Mathematics and Science Education Network (NC MSEN) Pre-College
Program. Funding for 70 participants was established four years ago. Five UNC campus sites (Elizabeth City State University, Fayetteville
State University, UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC-Charlotte, and Winston-Salem State University) started at that time with high school freshmen,
now seniors. North Carolina State and North Carolina A&T State universities have identified high school freshmen to begin later this month.

From the beginning, one of the goals of PERSIST was to not only encourage the participants to become teachers, but to also prepare them
to take advantage of available scholarship opportunities as seniors. The decision to have a leadership conference was made when Dr. Fuller,
Mr. Williams, and Mr. Bland were discussing ways to best prepare the PERSIST seniors for applying for available teaching scholarships this
fall. The group decided that to simply provide information on scholarships and necessary application steps would not fully accomplish the
goals of the program. Instead, the idea was hatched to pull all of the students together in order to provide a more full-service approach.

“Pathways to Teaching” was about giving the students all of the necessary information to make the transition from high school student, to
college student, to teacher preparation program participants. The day started with words of wisdom and encouragement delivered by 2010-11
NC Teacher of the Year, Ms. Jennifer Facciolini, a 1998 Meredith College Teaching Fellows graduate. The students then rotated through
break-out sessions entitled “Thinking about Teaching” and “College Matriculation: Requirements for Teaching”. These sessions were
presented by Ms. Tamica Stubbs, a recent Burroughs Welcome Fund Science Teacher Award winner, and a panel of freshmen through senior
Teaching Fellows from NC State and North Carolina Central universities. During lunch, the students had the opportunity to visit display booths
featuring Recruitment and Outreach Coordinators from UNC system colleges and schools of education.

Immediately after lunch, break-out sessions gave the students the opportunity to hear short presentations from each of the education recruiters
in attendance regarding requirements for admission and available program offerings. Afternoon sessions focused on “Professional Teaching
Requirements” and “College Affordability”. Dr. Vincent Snipes, Winston-Salem State University, and Dr. Elaine Franklin, Western Carolina
University led the sessions on professional standards and teaching as a profession. The college affordability sessions were co-presented by
the Forum’s Danny Bland and Mrs. Sarita Broadway of the College Foundation of North Carolina (CFNC).

The PERSIST students, their advisors, and a few parents who attended the sessions, left with a wealth of information and the charge to have
group discussions at their campus MSEN sites during their next regularly scheduled Saturday Academy sessions to debrief the conference.
Evaluations were collected and are now being analyzed to determine participant satisfaction. Dr. Fuller, Mr. Williams, Mr. Bland and other
conference contributors will meet soon to debrief.

To check out some of the pictures taken at the Conference, please visit http://picasaweb.google.com/ced.ncsu/PersistScholars?authkey=Gv1sRgCKeZr73mxKjJdw&feat=directlink#.

To read a press release, please visit http://ced.ncsu.edu/news/PERSISTScholars.php.

To download the Conference's program booklet, please click here. (pdf)

Eden Tackett, WSSU NC-MSEN PCP and P.E.R.S.I.S.T. Student Participated in a Summer Fellowship Program in China

Eden Tackett was one of 14 students that was selected from across the state to participate in a 2- week summer fellowship program in China in 2010.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - Host of the 2010 NC MSEN Day

On Saturday, April 24, the 2010 MSEN Day was held at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC. Approximately six hundred
(600) highly motivated middle and high school students from seven NC-MSEN PCP sites participated in sixteen mathematics, science and
engineering events including robotics competition. The overall winners for the daylong competition included the following: First Place –
UNC Charlotte, Second Place – NC State University, and Third Place – Elizabeth City State University. The oratorical winners were
Tabreah Tatum (Elizabeth City State University) and Kiana Rivers (Elizabeth City State University) for the middle and high school
competitions, respectively. Hundreds of medals, including gold, silver and bronze were awarded to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winning students
and teams.

Please click to view a movie filled with pictures of the event (provide by UNC Chapel Hill NC-MSEN Pre-College Program). Please also click to
view the complete winner list of 2010 MSEN Day.

NCSU NC-MSEN PCP Student Participated in NCISC's Beijing Youth Science Creation Competition

The NC International Science Challenge (NCISC) is a yearly North Carolina science competition offered to
high school students by the Grassroots Science Museums Collaborative and the North Carolina Science,
Mathematics and Technology Education Center. Several excellent inquiry-based science projects are chosen
for their student creators to display those projects at the Beijing Youth Science Creation Competition (BYSCC).
The students chosen through the NCISC process are the sole US representatives at the BYSCC which features
students from many countries, offering students the opportunity to interact with future scientists from around
the globe. Victoria Jones, a NCSU NC-MSEN PCP student, was one of the four outstanding high school students
chosen for this wonderful global learning opportunity.

Please click to learn more about the competition, Victoria Jones (her bio and blog) and other contestants.

NASA Awards $1.2 Million Grant to NC-MSEN Pre-College Program

Please click to read the press release for detail information.

UNC School Of Education (SOE) News Featured The UNCCH NC-MSEN PCP Robotic Team

Twenty UNC Chapel Hill NC-MSEN Pre-College Program high school students from five different school systems
in the area are teaming up to build a robot from start to finish that can successfully perform a specific task and to
participate in the NCFIRST regional robotics competition April 2-3 in Dorton Arena, Raleigh. JC Penney and Freelon
Group are their sponsors. Please come and support them!

Please click to read the featured article on the UNC SOE News.

Please click to see a flyer of the competition on April 2-3, 2010 for details (pfd).

UNCC NC-MSEN PCP Student Placed 1st in Regional Science Fair

Congratulations to Debbie Rabinovich, UNCC NC-MSEN PCP Student, was placed 1st in Environments Science
at the Northeast Regional Science Fair.

Please visit http://www.ecu.edu/ncregionalsciencefair/ to learnn more about the NC Regional Science Fair hosted at
East Carolina University.

What To Get Your Valentine This Year? - A Fundraising Project for UNC CH PCP Competiting at
The NC US FIRST Robotics Competition on April 1-3, 2010

"What to get my sweetie for Valentine's Day" project.

On Saturday, February 13, 2010, beginning at 11:00 am, the high school robotics team from the UNC Chapel Hill
Pre-College Program will be at Cary Towne Center Mall raising funds for their state robotics competition. All proceeds
from this fundraiser will be used for robot construction for the North Carolina US FIRST Robotics competition on
April 1-3, 2010. This is an inaugural event for the state of North Carolina and the UNC Chapel Hill NC-MSEN
Pre-College Program.

Please check out a flyer for details about the fundraising project and an animation of the 2010 "BREAKAWAY GAME"
competition if you are interested.

If you have any questions or comments, please call Tammy Siler at (919) 962-1624 or email tsiler1@email.unc.edu.

Two UNC Charlotte NC-MSEN Pre-College Program Students In A Movie

Two UNC Charlotte Pre-College Program students, Brianne Lindsey, an 11th grade student from
Lake Norman Charter School and Jeremy McLaughlin, an 11th grade student from the NC School
of Math and Science will appear in an upcoming movie titled Blood Done Sign My Name. It is drama
based on the true story in which a black Vietnam-era veteran is allegedly murdered by a local white
businessman who is later exonerated. The plot focuses on the role of a local high school teacher and
the civil unrest that followed the acquittal. The movie is scheduled to come out on February 19, 2010.
Please go out and support this film. Please check out the movie trailer if you are interested.