The Acton-Boxborough Math Competition is holding a free online math contest for middle school students held November 16-17. The test will consist of fifteen problems ranging in difficulty. The problems will be posted on Saturday morning at 10AM, and submission are due on Sunday night at 11:30PM. No pre-registration is required. Learn more here.
Category Archives: Opportunities
Webinars for High Schoolers: Intellectual Property — What is it? Who is it for?
Lemelson-MIT is presenting three webinars for high-school students to explore Intellectual Property (IP) — how to protect ideas. The webinars are useful for debate clubs to learn more about this year’s national debate topic on IP but are open to all. Register here.
- Orientation to the intellectual property system: September 11 (recording available here)
- Hot topics regarding U.S. IP laws & careers in IP: October 24, 8:30PM-10:30PM ET
- Deep dive into arguments for/against strengthening U.S. intellectual property protections: November 20, 8PM-9:15PM ET. This Includes individualized coaching and Q&A for teams who pre-register.
NASA TechRise Student Challenge: Submissions due Nov. 1
The NASA TechRise Student Challenge is a national contest to design an experiment to be tested on a NASA-sponsored high-altitude balloon. Teams must include at least four students in grades 6-12 and one school employee. Sixty winning teams will each be given $1500 to build the experiment, support from mentors, and a spot for their experiment on a flight. Submissions are due on November 1, and winners will be announced January 21.
Data Jam Competition for Grades 5-12
The Northeast U.S. Ecosystems Data Jam is a contest dedicated to engaging students in data science and ecology. Students will analyze local data sets collected by professional scientists and create an original work to convey their interpretations. Possible media include graphics, songs, videos, computer games, plays, books, and more. Early-bird schoolyard registration ends October 15, and all pre-registration is due January 15.
Congressional App Challenge: Submissions Due Oct. 24
Founded in 2013, the Congressional App Challenge is a prestigious national competition for middle and high school students to design original apps. Each congressional district selects a winning app to be displayed in the U.S. Capitol Building and online, with Rep. Jake Auchincloss selecting the winner of district MA04, which includes Newton. Apps can be built using any programming language for any platform, with no limits on theme or topic. Last year’s local winner developed Handshake, an app dedicated to live interpretation of ASL and English during conversations between hearing and deaf individuals. Submissions are due October 24 at 12PM. Register here.
NSHS Science Team offers Summer Science Program for Grades 6-10, Jul. 29-Aug. 30
The Newton Summer Science Program offers a series of week-long STEM courses taught by student members of the Newton South High School Science Team to inspire middle school students to explore engaging topics in science beyond the school curriculum. Additionally, the program offers courses in grades 9-10 math and science for high school students to begin the school year feeling prepared.
Online courses will be taught free of charge, and in-person courses at Newton North and Newton South High Schools cost $20 (which goes to Newton Community Education to pay for space and registration costs).
See the full schedule and full course syllabus, then register here.
The NSHS Science Team also gratefully accepts donations (recommended: $15 per one-week course) that will support the team throughout the school year, to pay for competition fees and study materials. Checks may be written to Newton South High School with “Science Team” in the memo line, mailed to:
NSHS Science Team c/o Gerald Ng
Newton South High School
140 Brandeis Rd.
Newton, MA 02459
Amazing Archaeology Fair at Harvard, Apr. 7
HMSC will host the Amazing Archaeology Fair at Harvard on April 7, 1PM-4PM, at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology (11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge) and Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East (6 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge).
Grades 7-10: Register by Mar. 5 for MIT SPARK (Mar. 16-17)
Run by MIT undergraduate and graduate students, SPARK offers students in Grades 7-10 a variety of short, interesting classes on the MIT campus over one weekend, March 16-17 (10AM-6PM on Saturday, 9AM-6PM on Sunday). The registration lottery is open now through 11:59PM on March 5, and until that deadline all course preferences will be treated equally in the lottery. After that, any remaining seats will be open first-come/first-served. Students may choose from about 100 courses and must register on their own. To fill your schedule, rank your top 3 classes and star at least 10 classes per time block. A $70 fee covers two days of classes and lunch and lots of walk-in activities. Generous financial aid is available. For more information not covered here, email spark@mit.edu. Here are STEM courses offered:
- Making art with Robots
- Linux and open source software
- Introduction to Programming in OCaml
- Better Coding with Vim: Intro to Keybinds and Configuration
- Web Development Crash Course
- Tales of the Americas through biology and genetics
- It’s Not Rocket Science (Wait, Yes It Is!)
- How to Run an Airline
- CAD Croc Creations: Make Your Own Jibbitz!
- Extreme Engineering
- How To Build A Road Legal Solar Car
- How do cars work?
- Explore ZeroE Aviation!
- Tales of Antiquity though engineering
- Engineers Without Borders: Projects in Global Development
- Pixel Pioneers: Journey into AI Vision & Robotics!
- Beyond Numbers: The Adventure After Calculus
- Intro to Japanese Soroban
- Geometry and Beauty of Soap Bubbles
- Mathematical Matchmaking
-
High Speed Mathematics
- Cosmology: The Universe at Large
- Seeing is Believing? The Science of Optical and Auditory Illusions
- Using ChatGPT
- Traveling at the Speed of Light
- Introduction to Global Health
- Sensory Safari: A Brain Exploration
- Flaming Fruit Fusion
- The AI Revolution and What it Means for Public Health
- COMPOSTING – achieving Sustainability Goals
- The Fascinating Physics of Solids
- The Strongest Force in the Universe
- Let’s Explore the Periodic Table!
- Digging Deeper: 4.65 Billion Years in 150 Minutes
- What’s in a Nuclear Reactor?
- 3,2,1 Beyblade Physics!
- Let’s Talk about the Weather!
- How to be a Linguistic Detective
- The Psychology of Superheroes: Understanding the Minds of Fictional Heroes and Villains
- Making Waves : An Introduction to Phonetic Speech Analysis
Ocean STEAM Powered Women Fellowship: Info session Mar. 5
Applications are open until April 4 for young women in Grades 10-11 to apply for a 2024 O-STEAM Fellowship, sponsored by WHOI Sea Grant at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Sea Education Association. This fellowship will run August 11-17 and aims to promote diversity and expose young women to a variety of careers in STEAM.
Register for the online Info Session on March 5 at 6PM.
O-STEAM student fellows will work with a predominantly female team of researchers to explore a variety of STEAM-related activities. The team will explore challenges that are unique to women in science. In seeing themselves represented, our teens can gain a sense of belonging. The program is available to students who are in Grades 10-11 in Massachusetts and who are interested in being in a female-identified space. No experience is required.
There is no cost. The fellowship award includes travel to and from Woods Hole, food, and accommodations. See the program flyer. Apply on the O-STEAM webpage by April 4. Notifications will be made by May 2024. For more information, email Grace Simpkins, gsimpkins@whoi.edu.
Wonderland: Free high-school hackathon in Newton, Feb. 23-25
Wonderland is a free, 48-hour hackathon, February 23-25, “bringing students from all over the Boston area for a weekend of unhindered creation.” It’s organized by six high-school seniors (including ones from Newton North HS and Newton South HS) under the auspices of nonprofit Hack Club with support from WPS Institute in Newton Centre, which is providing the venue. (Last spring, this team of student organizers ran the Beantown Bash hackathon, also with Hack Club.)
Wonderland is open to high-school students 18 and under. (Older high-school students may email wonderland@hackclub.com to check eligibility.) While drawing mainly from the Greater Boston area, the event also has limited travel stipends available for others to participate from further away.
Wonderland is not a typical hackathon; it doesn’t involve computer hacking, and no coding is required. It’s for both beginners and experienced makers to get together and create. In the words of the organizers, it’s for “any student interested in making projects with their hands. From software, to hardware, and every art project in between, Wonderland is a space for high school students to pursue the unimaginable.”
The organizers describe Wonderland: “Centered around mystery chests, we’re challenging participants to build projects out of what they’re given. How will you combine a Python gif generator and receipt printer? What about a keyboard and RC car? There is no limit to what can be made in Wonderland!”
The event is free and runs from 4PM on Friday to 12PM on Sunday at WPS Institute (160 Herrick Road, Newton Centre). Food and sleeping accommodations are provided. See the parents’ guide.
Students should register here individually. Teams will be created on-site.