BRIDGET O’BRIEN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Minh
Van, a ninth-grader in the Science, Mathematics,
Achievement and Research Technology program, prepares to fly his
group’s glider during the table-launch portion of the
competition held in the Men’s Gym on Aug. 14. Van is one of
46 Los Angeles high schoolers in the program.
By Rachel Makabi
Daily Bruin Reporter
While her friends spent their summers at home, 14-year-old
Brenda Calderon experimented with balsa wood and different paint
types to build a model glider at UCLA.
Calderon is part of the Science, Mathematics, Achievement and
Research Technology program for Students, held during the summer at
the UCLA School of Engineering and Applied Science.
The SMARTS program aims to interest students in engineering
before they enter high school by teaching them how to apply math
and science to the field.
“They are so curious now, and that’s the
point,” said Enrique Ainsworth, director of the Center of
Excellence in Engineering and Diversity, the umbrella group under
which SMARTS operates.
After six weeks of learning physics, geometry and trigonometry
as it relates to aerodynamics, Calderon and 45 other incoming high
school students from the Los Angeles and Inglewood school districts
built gliders, which they entered into a competition to see which
would fly the farthest.
The students walked over to the Men’s Gym on Aug. 14,
clutching the gliders they had painted and proudly named, like
“Big Mo” and “Aries II,” to begin the
competition.
With friends and family observing on the sidelines, the students
launched their gliders with two rubber bands and watched them
fly.
As the plane built by Calderon’s group passed the 50-feet
mark, some students cheered while others were noticeably upset,
knowing the new record would be hard to beat.
After initially tying, Calderon’s group flew the glider
once more and won the competition with a glider that traveled to
the far end of the gym.
Prior to this competition, the 46 participants had to compete
with 90 other students in a rigorous application process to be
admitted to the program, according to Linda Robertson, student
affairs officer of CEED.
Ainsworth said that ideally, the program would admit 100
students every summer, but limited funding prevents it from doing
so. Consequently, he said, the program ends up accepting students
who have demonstrated high ability and performance.
None of the students denied the workload was challenging.
“We had to learn how to persevere, and that can be very
challenging,” Calderon said. “But we will be more
advanced when we go back to our high schools.”
Ainsworth said the math students learned surpassed the levels of
some high schools. As a result, SMARTS participants receive honors
credit.
“This is an enriched program,” he said. “When
the graduate students teach and the students get thrown into a lab
environment, they learn that they have to rise in order to
succeed.
Calderon said she learned more than she did in her regular
school.
“These classes were so much smaller, so we got more
one-on-one attention,” she said. “Our classes usually
have 35 to 40 students, but here our classes only had 18
students.”
The students became proficient in the PowerPoint computer
program, which they used to demonstrate the process of building
their planes.
As one group began their presentation, they explained the
mistakes they had made in previous trials. For instance, when they
painted their glider, they did not anticipate the effect the
additional weight would have on the glider’s flight
distance.
They also demonstrated how they applied mathematical equations
to build their gliders.
“The program is different from traditional math because in
building the gliders, it gives them incentive and motivation to
learn,” said Sarah Young, a graduate student studying math
and the program’s review facilitator.
“They learned the math while they were creating. If they
just learned the formulas, they would have had no idea what they
meant,” she continued.
Students like Calderon have been attending this program since
1988, when officials noticed the decreasing number of engineers in
the United States. Ainsworth said the public school districts
aren’t producing their “fair share” of
engineering students.
“There is a critical national need for engineers in
high-tech positions,” Ainsworth said. “Companies are
recruiting engineers from other countries, so we are building up a
pool of students here.”
The students met with business executives from 12 corporations,
including Verizon, Honeywell and Hewlett-Packard, to better
acquaint themselves with the industry.
During these meetings, students learned they were more connected
through their love of math and engineering than divided by their
different backgrounds.
As Calderon walked beside program participant Sarah Chi, her
“new best friend,” she added that she met people on
the program with whom she plans to keep in touch.
Ashton Hasson, 14, said application for the program, which
included writing five essays and receiving recommendations, was
difficult, but was worth the experience she received.
“That experience of being on a campus and working at a
faster pace will definitely prepare me better for high
school,” Hasson said.