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GEAR UP Students Attend Science Spectacular Impact
Fairmont State News

GEAR UP Students Attend Science Spectacular

Feb 15, 2005

The Fairmont State GEAR UP Partnership and the NASA Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) Facility Student Outreach Program presented a Science Spectacular program on Feb. 8 for GEAR UP middle and high schools.

Students had the opportunity to explore how science is part of our everyday lives during the event at Fairmont State's Feaster Center. Darryl Baynes of the Minority Aviation Education Association Inc. (MAEA) examined the weight, speed, structure and volatility of gasses in an exciting and even "explosive" hands-on presentation.

The MAEA was founded by Baynes in 1992 to overcome the under-representation of minorities and women in aviation and its related fields. The scope was widened to encompass all science, math and related technologies.

GEAR UP is a six-year, federally funded program that aims to significantly increase the number of students who are prepared to succeed in education beyond high school. In 1999, Fairmont State received the largest of 164 partnership grants awarded throughout the United States. GEAR UP serves 16,553 seventh- through 12th-grade students in 29 middle schools and 18 high schools in nine counties. The Fairmont State GEAR UP grant serves Barbour, Dodriddge, Harrison, Marion, Monongalia, Preston, Randolph, Taylor and Tucker counties. For more information about the Fairmont State GEAR UP Partnership, call (304) 367-0436.

The NASA IV&V Facility offers two summer internship programs for high school
students interested in computer science and engineering. For more
information, contact Valerie Graves at (304) 367-8450 or
valerie.graves@ivv.nasa.gov.