June Afterzone

June 2018 Newsletter

Access and Equity Survey

Don't miss out on the chance to take part in our Access and Equity Survey! Be part of the statewide project that'll provide information on how to better serve youth in our communities and share how real the need is! Contact Katie Lakey with questions or find more information online.

Create a Summer Space Programming Club

Zero Robotics is a program from MIT that offers 5 weeks of free programming curriculum for middle schoolers. During the five week program, middle school students work in teams with summer program educators/facilitators to:

Learn to code
Learn about space
Participate with other states and work with MIT and NASA
Final competition with International Space Station at Evergreen College

Sign-up now to join the Zero Robotics training on June 9th!

Middle school teams will be expected to start the 5 week program in July and be invited to a kick off field day, as well as the final competition at Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum. Interested in having a team this year? Download Oregon Zero Robotics 2018 Flyer or contact OregonASK VISTA Bernard Rahming with questions. Oregon Training for Educators June 9th from 9am-2:30pm in Wilsonville.

Calling all 7th-8th Grade Girls!

In a collaboration with IBM, OregonASK is promoting CyberDay4Girls at Mt. Hood Community College. The program is part of a national effort to increase the number of women in cyber security. This one day event is designed to help build students knowledge of cyber security in a fun and exciting way with hands on learning. Students will also learn about exciting careers and be introduced to inspiring female role models studying and working in the field. This event has been organized for 7th-8th grade girls who may or may not already be interested in STEM.

There is a limited number of spots, don't wait, Apply Here for a travel stipend to let us know if you will be able to bring 1-4 girls to the event in Gresham. Read more about this event here .

OregonASK Incubator Projects: Hands-on Afterschool

As part of our Opportunity Grant received in the fall of 2017, we are working with communities around Oregon to facilitate several middle school projects that align with workforce efforts and building employability skills. Several pilots are being implemented this spring & summer but we are looking ahead to get several more programs signed up for our fall 2018 cohort. If you are interested in attending training for educators/facilitators contact Rachel Kessler.

Web Literacy: This project focuses on utilizing web and digital literacy resources to help youth build skills that can be captured and shared out in digital badges. Badges can be awarded in computer science specific skills or more generally applicable employability skills such as teamwork and communication. Join our Fall cohort, August 31st from 9am-1pm in Wilsonville. Register here.

Service to Careers: This youth voice led curriculum is meant for middle school aged youth, and has been developed by OregonASK as a ten week curriculum for out-of-school time programs to create a Service to Careers Club. Our training for the fall cohort is August 24th online from 9-11am. Register here.

Leap into Science Next Fall

Leap into Science is a national program that integrates open-ended science activities with children's books, designed for children ages 3-10 and their families. The program empowers educators to offer programs in community settings like libraries, museums, and out-of-school time programs to engage underserved audiences in accessible and familiar settings. Register below or can c ontact Rachel Kessler with questions.

September 20th

Beaverton City Library

11am - 3pm

Southern Oregon Training

September TBD

Oregon Afterschool Conference Keynote is...

Meet our 2018 OAC Keynote: Sadij Ali

Come join us at our annual Oregon Afterschool Conference on November 3, 2018 at Chemeketa Community College in Salem! Save the date and think about how you will Express Yourself while supporting youth to do the same.

Apply here to be a be a presenter at our 2018 Conference! Contact Lisa Kensel ,

Conference Coordinator.

Summer is Coming - Summer Block Party January 25th

Gilbert House Children's Museum is teaming up with OregonASK, Salem-Keizer Education Foundation (SKEF), the National Summer Learning Association and local organizations to host the third annual Summer Learning Block Party at Gilbert House Children's Museum on Monday, June 25th, from 10 am to 2 pm . Gilbert House Children's Museum will be open to the public with free admission all day.

Families are invited to enjoy 15 indoor exhibits, the museum's 20,000 square foot Outdoor Discovery Area, and interactive booths in the adjoining parking lot in front of Gilbert House Children's Museum. Over 20 local partners are excited to participate with the shared goal of highlighting the value of summer learning and preventing a"summer slide" which contributes to today's achievement gap.

"It will be an engaging and lively summer party!" comments Patricia McNab of Gilbert House. "We hope many new families are able to enjoy the Museum and walk away

feeling equipped for the summer."

Summer Meals Sites

Summer is here and for some kids that means they won't have the guarantee of a meal everyday. Need help finding a Summer Meal Site? Go Here to find a user friendly map that shows the closest summer meal site near you!

For more information about Summer Meals contact Steve Wytcherley at steve@oregonhunger.org.

What are you doing for Summer Learning Day July 12, 2018?

National Summer Learning Day is a national advocacy day aimed at elevating the importance of

k eeping kids learning, safe and healthy every summer, ensuring they return to school in the Fall ready t o succeed in the year. If you don't have something planned already, Here are some ideas for your program to get involved on July 12th!

Keeping Up with OregonASK

OregonASK has been keeping busy with trainings and conferences that help us create better resources and improve our professional development. Here are some of the things we've been up to:

March

The OregonASK team went to Atlanta, Georgia for the National Afterschool Conference, where Katie Lakey, OregonASK Data and Grant Coordinator was awarded the Next Generation Afterschool 2018. P roudly sponsored by S&S Worldwide, the National AfterSchool Association sought to highlight emerging young leaders who are afterschool champions and believers in the power of afterschool.
OregonASK Master Trainer, Susan Zundel went to the Code.org Computer Science Fundamentals Facilitator Summit in San Antonio to renew her facilitator certification. Over 3 days they learned a new strategy for introducing educators to K-5 computer science curriculum with a focus on supporting implementation.

OregonASK Master Trainer, Rachel Kessler went to the National Arts Education Conference in Seattle

April

In April, OregonASK's Director Beth Unverzagt went to the 50 State National Network conference in Washington D.C., with Juan Soto, OregonASK Equity and Workforce Coordinator, Kirstin Sands the Employment and Training Coordinator of Self Sufficiency Programs of DHS, and Raquel Gywnn an Education Specialist for ODE Federal Systems Team. A new partnership with National Geographic was announced at the conference.

OregonASK Policy and Outreach Coordinator, Bethany Thramer, has worked on our ESSA & Expanded Learning Policy discussions this spring, finishing up with a student session at Central High School in late April. Throughout this process, it was great to hear from stakeholders and youth about this critical change that will expand opportunities by utilizing the guidelines and freedom that the new federal law (ESSA) gives states and communities. You can take a look at our one page brief HERE. A huge thank you to Dr. Susan Inman who facilitated these sessions over the last 4 months as a continuation of our work compiling A Sustainable Pathway for All. This was made possible thanks to funding from the Overdeck Family Foundation and contributions from amazing stakeholders throughout the state, continuing to support STEM & CTE Expanded Learning Opportunities in Oregon.

May

Rachel Kessler, went to the Techbridge TOT in Baltimore to increase the resources for cultural and gender inclusion, support access for STEM career exploration. She also went to Omaha to join in cohort 3 of click2science, a system for stem of to include coaching, observation, and feedback to program staff.

Susan Zundel, offered the new version of code.org training to a mixture of afterschool and school day educators with varying levels of computing experience. The Introduction to CS Fundamentals workshop is free to educators. If you are interested in attending contact her at susan.zundel@oregonask.org or visit https://code.org/professional-development-workshops. She also attended the Infant, Toddler, and School Age Child Care Institute hosted by the Administration for Children and Families, Office of Child Care. The focus was Bridging the Child Care Continuum though Policy and Practice implemented under the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF). Over two days she learned about child care policies that support and frustrate school age providers and advocates.

Beth Unverzagt attended the National STEM Summit held at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama with Julia Cannell the Development Director of Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum and Elaine Charpentier Philippi the Executive Director of Business Education Compact. The summit consisted of active learning sessions and individual meetings with C.S for All, The Pear Institute, and Jobs for the Future.

Rachel Kessler, went to the Leap into Science training in March, developed by The Franklin Institute, this nationwide program integrates open-ended science activities with children's books, designed for children ages 3-10 and their families. Rachel hosted our first Oregon training in Eugene on May 19th.

Fewer STEM Courses in Minority-Majority High Schools

The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights recently issued an update on who's taking STEM courses in schools. One big finding: High schools with high black and Latinx student enrollment (those above 75 percent) offered math and science courses at a lower rate than the overall population of high schools. The difference was greatest, the report noted, for advanced math, calculus and physics.