The BSCES Public Affairs and Outreach Committee is dedicated to helping to support and promote the fields of science, technology, engineering and math through STEM education. We are a group of over 100 regular volunteers that mentor students, run activities and talk at schools, give tours, take in job shadows, and many other activities. We are most famous for running two major events: Model Bridge and Future City. To learn more about these programs see descriptions below. We need your help in order to run this year's programs.
We would love volunteers that can bring real world experiences to the students. We need mentors now, and come December, we will need lots of judges for Future City. Information for volunteering (actually, information about everything) can be found at www.engineeryourfuture.org. If you can't volunteer but still want to help, please share this and encourage others to get involved!
2021 marks the 30th year holding the Model Bridge Contest. In its early days, it was an effort to help an organization named the Massachusetts Pre-Engineering Program (MassPEP) and, at least for the first decade, was a toothpick bridge contest. The contest eventually expanded and was open up to a wide range of grades, and schools all over Massachusetts, and with that, we started having students return year after year. To challenge these students, we decided to radically change the specifications every year. We have had bridges made of pasta, papier mache bridges, cardboard, foam core, transparent acetate report covers, playing card, plastic dinnerware, foam insulation, coffee stirrers, popsicle sticks, chopsticks, pencils, paint stirrers, hemp/bamboo, and many others. This year, we wanted something very colorful but also simple, so we selected card stock paper and clear adhesive tape.
We have spent long hours working out the logistics for running this event while strictly adhering to all COVID-19 restrictions and guidelines. While we are true believers in teamwork, this year, there will be one student per model. Each student will be sent a box with everything they need: the card stock, rolls of tape (single and double sided), scissors and a 6 foot tape measure. The boxes are all 24” x 48” x 8”, which will nicely fit our maximum size bridge (44” x 24” x 7”). Using all the materials they have, their bridges will meet the maximum weight requirement of 20 ounces. In addition to shipping their models, students will need to fill in an online template with photos, sketches and other information about their bridges so that we can have our outstanding group of judges, who gladly return every year, continue their tradition. We will have all of the bridges in-hand, weighed, judged for aesthetics, and ready to load on February 6th, 2021, the day before the Superbowl, when we will load them up until they break!
FUTURE CITY
With Future City, this is the 23rd year of the contest in New England and the 12th year of BSCES involvement. The grade 6-8 students in the competition are asked to dream up their ultimate city of the future, and then, using convincing technologies and scientific principles, explain how it will work, system by system. The challenge for the grade 6-8 students in Future City this year is to solve the issues faced by an established future city on the moon.