During my time spent with the College of Engineering, I was tasked with multiple projects. The hosts organized a wonderful two-day tour of their facilities, showing me and the other externs the projects that various engineers were constructing. We got to see recycled wood being turned into homes. We experienced the craft of building circuits, and we even got to view robotic advancements being made to help stroke patients recover.

Our hosts tasked me and my fellow externs with a pretty important job. The College of Engineering students are responsible for taking lessons to the students of the Moscow School District’s After School Program. Our job as externs was to create lessons for the Engineering students to present to the kids. It was quite the challenge, stepping out of my comfort zone of reading and math and learning about space and putting that knowledge to work in the form of science lessons.

My fellow externs and I also spent some time organizing the Engineering Science closet, which is full of items that the students might need as they teach the children. Each item was organized, labeled, and shelved to make it easy to find.

A project that I will be utilizing in my own after school program is the Scratch Computer Program. We externs were privileged to get to spend time with one of the professors at the university as he trained middle schoolers how to use Scratch. I know my own students in Lapwai will benefit greatly from my experience learning that program.

Grade Level and Subject Taught: 3rd Grade, all subjects