Mrs. Hohnstein's  Challenger Project students are finishing up the research portion of their projects. Several of them have conducted in person or Zoom interviews with professionals in their field. Brantley D. Zoomed with Dr. Van Stratum at Oregon State University regarding his project on neural networks and programming algorithms. He will be touring the robotics lab and speaking further with Dr. Van Stratum in the following few weeks. Lyla K. spent Friday at the Big Fish Lab in Newport, Oregon with Maddie English, an Oregon State University PhD candidate specializing in basking sharks for her project. Arabelle K. spent a day shadowing a nurse at a pediatric cardiac clinic for her project on pediatric cardiac diseases. Neh B. spent a morning interviewing Lorna, a counselor studying to be an LCSW, regarding anxiety and depression for her project, and Alexa J. spent time interviewing Daniel Gallo (LESD) for her project on Suicide Prevention. 

Experiences like these give middle school students meaningful exposure to potential career paths, helping them connect classroom learning to real-world professions and begin thinking intentionally about their futures. We are proud of our students for taking initiative, connecting with professionals, and engaging in meaningful, hands-on learning experiences!