Building Omaha’s Future Leaders
May 2019
Celebrating STEM in Omaha
A STEM Professional You Should Know!
Tracie Reding
Tracie Evans Reding has 14 years of experience in the education field including secondary and post-secondary settings. She currently serves as the STEM Outreach Coordinator at the University of Nebraska at Omaha where she works with an interdisciplinary STEM Leadership team, community nonprofits, businesses, and schools to provide engaging outreach opportunities. Her research interests include using Social Network Analysis as a collaborative management
tool in collaborative networks focused on improving STEM educational pathways. She received both her Bachelors degree in Biology and Masters degree in Secondary Education from the University of Nebraska Lincoln, and her Doctorate of Education from the University of Nebraska Omaha.
Previous experience includes 10 years of teaching High School Science in the Omaha metro area and 4 years as a graduate assistant at both the University of Nebraska Omaha and the University of Nebraska Lincoln.
Mark Your Calendars!
Nebraska Career Education Conference- June 3-6
The NCE Conference is held Tuesday and Wednesday. Monday and Thursday are optional add on days completely dedicated to technical workshop aimed to expand your content knowledge. Tuesday kicks off conference with an all career field opening session followed by additional extended learning opportunities along with cross career field rotation options, community college rotations and wrap up with some time visiting the vendor exhibit area. Wednesday provides a variety of options to meet your needs including additional content specific learning opportunities, an additional keynote speaker and professional organization banquets.
Vendor exhibits showcasing curriculum materials, fundraising opportunities, software/hardware and related services are displayed on Tuesday of the conference.
Conference sessions take place at the Younes Conference Center, just off the interstate in Kearney, NE. Many of the specialty workshops are held at various locations across the city, i.e.; ESU 10, UNK, Kearney High School, as state in the conference agenda.
Attendance at last year’s conference exceeded 500 attendees; therefore, it is important to make advance room reservations. Several hotels have special conference rates and are listed under the Lodging tab on this website.
STEM in Agriculture Workshop- June 4-5 – 8:30am – 4:00pm
How is science contributing to the future of global food and energy security? Learn how advancing technologies help us produce more with less. You’ll also take part in inquiry-based, hands-on science labs with an engineering design edge covering these topics:
- Biotechnology
- Soil science
- Water quality
- Energy production
- Sustainable agricultural practices
These lessons address Nebraska Science Standards in Middle School and High School.
Take home free supplies for your classroom. Meet industry experts and tour an ethanol plant. The first day will conclude with an evening dinner where you’ll meet and talk with local farmers and industry experts and see technology demonstrations.
Shared hotel and meals provided by Nebraska Corn Board. Each teacher will receive over $350 worth of classroom lab supplies.
PLEASE NOTE: This workshop is geared toward middle and high school teachers. The content covered is above the level of elementary grades science.
To register and learn more, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/stem-in-ag-2019-workshop-registration-50507685848
Aviation STEM Day & Pancake Breakfast- June 8th- 7:00am – 12:00pm
Fly away for the morning and learn all about aerodynamics and aviation with some of the best pilots in town. The Greater Omaha Aviation STEM Day seeks to educate both youth and young adults on different aspects of aviation and careers in the aviation field. free airplane rides will be offered to kids ages 8-17 by the EAA Chapter 80 Young Eagles, as well as hands on drone demonstrations by the Tuskegee Airmen Omaha Chapter and a paper airplane competition put on by the Civic Air-Patrol Composite Squad. While there, feel free to take a look at the static aircraft displays featuring models like the P-51 Gunfighter and a Blanik L-23 Sailplane. Feeling hungry? Arrive at 7:00 that morning to fill up on pancakes and socialize with the airmen. To learn more about the event, visit aviationstemday.org.
MCC College for Kids- June3-July 19- 9:00am – 12:00pm
Send your kids to college for a week! Build your child’s course schedule for the week by registering for classes based on their interests. Classes range anywhere from Babysitting Basics and Cooking with Science, to Sewing with Mom and Mini Med School. Head to mccneb.edu to register for classes and find the best location for you.
The program is held for seven weeks during the summer at seven different locations in our four county service area. Five day sessions are held at schools in Blair, Bennington, Millard, Gretna, Papillion/La Vista, Westside schools and Fremont. No classes are held the week of July 4th. College for Kids students enroll for one week at a time. Each class is priced separately, so they may enroll for one, two or three classes in any given week, or for more than one week taking only one or two classes per week—it’s their choice. The program is from 9 a.m.-noon, Monday through Friday each week, with three, hour long class periods in that time frame. They may enroll for a 9-10 a.m., 10-11 a.m. or 11 a.m.-noon class. The hour long classes are offered for three different age groups: 6-7 year olds, 8-9 year olds and 10-11 year olds. There will be more than one class to choose from for each age group for each hour long time slot.
To register and learn more, visit mccneb.edu
UNO Aim for the Stars Camps- June 3- August 2- 8:30am – 3:30pm
Omaha STEM Ecosystems would like to inform the Omaha community of an exciting opportunity for children in grades from 3rd to 10th grade (entering 4th grade and entering 10th grade). Registration for these camps opens up the first week of January for 1 week (Mon.-Fri.) camps that are offered through June 3rd to August 2nd (no camps during the week of July 1-5). The University of Nebraska at Omaha Physics Department welcomes you to Aim for the Stars Science and Math Camps! There is a 1:8 adult to camper ratio at Aim for the Stars. Our staff members are chosen based on their rapport with children, knowledge of the subject matter and love of learning. Your child will learn so much and enjoy every moment of Aim for the Stars Science and Math Camp. There are also a variety of camps you can register your child for during any of the camp weeks. These range anywhere from 3-D printing, Science Fiction, and Engineering focused camps!
To learn more about this exciting venture, as well as, where to register go to: aimforthestars.unomaha.edu
These camps vary in price so go to the Aim for the Stars page at the unomaha.edu website link posted above to find specific prices for the camp you decide to register for more details. These camps are each 1 week long (5 days only)
Most camps are scheduled to begin each weekday at 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. with options of before and after care with an additional cost of 10-30 dollars for either or both.
We want to celebrate STEM professionals in the Greater Omaha area. Do you know of someone who has an awesome job using STEM applications in their everyday work? We would love to highlight them in our newsletter. Contact Julie Sigmon: Julie.sigmon@omahazoo.com
