On Saturday June 1, seven middle school FSEA clubs from communities in Boston's western suburbs met for the first "MetroWest FSEA Jamboree." The highlight of the morning was an inter-club Land Yacht competition. At one point dozens of Land Yachts, of all shapes and sizes, were being tuned up by their designers using a row of box fans lined up on one side of the gymnasium at J.P. Keefe Technical High School in Framingham. The competition was intense, and everyone had a great time!
Middle School clubs that participated in the Jamboree included Fuller M.S. (2 clubs), Walsh M.S. and Cameron M.S. from Framingham, Mindess M.S. from Ashland, Wilson M.S. from Natick, and Hopkinton M.S. from Hopkinton. These seven clubs have over 200 members, of whom more than half are girls and a quarter are minorities.
In the Finals, first-place went to Keri Ann Carmel (Walsh M.S.), second place to Danny Mendelsohn (Walsh M.S.) and third place to Catherine Fuller (Cameron M. S.). The other finalists were Ben Macdonald, Colin Hansen, Scott Brewer, Keith Finks, Ashley Allen and Ben Chester. JoAnne O’Leary of NSTAR, a club sponsor and the largest electric power distributor in the Greater Boston area presented the awards.
The jamboree was also an opportunity for Chris Noble, Regional Director, to recognize Gerry Brody on behalf of FSEA with a special award. Gerry has organized many of the clubs in the MetroWest area and is a veteran mentor and club organizer for FSEA.
Another notable advocate for FSEA, Kathie Carroll Day, Director of the MetroWest Center of Excellence for Women and Minorities in Science, was on hand to cheer the children on and to present awards to the corporate sponsors of the seven clubs. These sponsors are the MetroWest School to Career Partnership, the Metro South/ West Regional Employment Board, NSTAR, The Mathworks Inc., NMS Communications, and Raytheon Corporation.
The Jamboree was a great success, and the MetroWest clubs are already discussing which project that they will agree on for next year's event!
Reprinted from Volume 6, Issue 3 Future Scientists and Engineers of America Sept. 2002