01 May 2004

360 Degrees of COSI Academy

Kyle Moore
Sophomore, The Ohio State University, Computer Science
COSI Academy Alumnus

COSI Academy is a revolutionary and dynamic program for high school students who want to explore science beyond what they can learn in school. It is a member-led organization which allows its members the freedom to explore, be involved, and learn whatever they want. Since the program is so self-led, members get out of the program as much as they are willing to put in. As a charter member, each year I became more involved and thus had a deep and rewarding experience.

Members participate in two types of teams: project teams and challenge teams. Project teams control what direction COSI Academy takes by choosing the scientists and professionals that members get to meet, by finding interesting places for COSI Academy members to visit, by communicating with the press, and by maintaining COSI Academy’s website. I participated in the website team, and decided to take a gung-ho approach by redesigning the website from the ground up. By challenging myself to be so involved, I learned a great deal about website design and maintenance. This was rewarding on two levels; I was able to produce something that could actually be seen and used by the world, and I gained real world experience with a skill that I have since reused in my college class work and further redesign of the site.

Challenge teams allow members an opportunity to work on a year-long project with mentors that work in the industry. The most memorable and beneficial project I worked on was the robot project with Battelle. In this project, our goal was to build a robot that could autonomously navigate a field in search of illegally buried toxic waste barrels. I spent a great amount of time working on this project and it ended up being one of the best projects I’ve ever had the pleasure on which to work. My experience with the Battelle mentors was quite valuable. The knowledge base they brought to the table made a project that at first seemed overwhelming suddenly doable. The mentors taught me most of what I know about electrical engineering today. Also, mentors were willing to spare no expense in helping us succeed. One mentor in particular let our team use his workshop and tools at his home to build the robot. They were willing to work with us outside of COSI Academy meetings whenever we wanted. Without the mentors, we would not have been able to get very far in the project and wouldn’t have learned a lot of the skills needed. These skills are also important in the industry and life. Overall, this project was enlightening and gave me the skills needed to work on a team and be a team member.

As I get older, I begin to realize how much of an impact COSI Academy has had on my life. I believe it played an integral role in my attaining a full-ride scholarship to The Ohio State University. Through the COSI Academy, I was able to demonstrate that I was motivated and talented. My scholarship, in turn, has had a tremendous impact on my academic career by alleviating monetary concerns and allowing me to focus solely on my studies. COSI Academy was also very beneficial in that it gave me real world experience working on engineering team projects. I have worked on many teams since COSI Academy and believe COSI Academy helped train me in this real-world skill. I appreciate COSI Academy and its mentors for all they have done. COSI Academy will probably continue to open doors for me and I hope that someday I can repay this.

David Briley
Senior Director of Destination Programs
COSI Columbus
Founder, COSI Academy

"Mentoring isn’t a matter of providing another with the answers to life’s difficult questions. It is a matter of empowering others so they can find the answers on their own." I have seen this philosophy in action through COSI Academy.

The backbone of COSI Academy’s success comes from real-world challenges provided by mentors, scientists established in the field, that will yield data that would be both helpful for the mentor and engaging for the students. These challenges provide benefits to the students including:

• a chance to work closely with a brilliant scientific mind.
• a chance to do something that is real.
• an opportunity to learn what a career in science might be like.
• a concrete report that will be taken with them as they apply to colleges and jobs of the future.

We call COSI Academy an association of aspiring young scientists and engineers, but it is much more than that. Being around other kids that love science is very important. These like-minded individuals thrive in an environment where it’s ok to be smart, to like science, and to want to work with a scientist on a Saturday.

As a result of interacting with mentors, I’ve seen Academy members grow from not wanting to talk to anyone to speaking as peers with PhD’s. Watching the transformation of these students in their zest for learning and discovering science in real-life situations is inspiring.

I facilitated this program at its inception, and even after leaving that role two years ago, I have never missed a meeting. Now I am a mentor for COSI Academy because I’ve seen the impact that mentoring can have.

Amy Schlegel
Senior, Coshocton High School
COSI Academy Member

Coshocton, Ohio is not a very large community. It’s one of those everyone knows everyone towns, and is most definitely lacking in science resources. However, since I was about 3, I have always had a love of science and research, along with parents who were always eager to drive to a new destination to learn about Henry Ford or Thomas Edison or any other inventor. When I was in 8^th grade, my older sister (then a junior) learned about a newly formed science program out of COSI Columbus. Of the many trips that my family had taken to museums, COSI, was far and away my favorite. I loved being able to actually play and tinker around with various items. Being a hands-on-learner, I discovered all sorts of things at this facility (and there were no tour guides droning on and on about the governmental factors or economic goods of such a product.)

Hearing of this group, both my sister and I eagerly applied and were overjoyed when we got invited for interviews. Not long after, we both became charter members for this organization called COSI Academy. During the first year of the Academy, the 17 members had the chance to work with mentors from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) or Lucent. My sister and I, thinking of the countless hours we would be dragging our parents to Columbus for meetings decided to both join the USGS group. That first year we got to tour their facilities, and take field trips to better understand the groundwater we were studying.

The next year, my sister and I again chose from the growing number of mentor groups to work with Ohio State University’s Byrd Polar Research Center, dealing with what the future environmental effects of various pollutants might be. The one on one time with mentors specialized in the field of study we, the students, were interested in made the time fly by. However, the meetings also contained speakers from a broad spectrum of fields from geneticists to dolphin communication researchers. One of these speakers, Dr. Mauro Ferrari, allowed a handful of our group to work on a project in his lab for approximately six weeks the summer after my freshman year. Dealing with the survival of cells on various topographic mediums as well as dealing with apoptosis in conjunction with different adhesives, we got a hands on experience which otherwise, I, coming from a remote town, would never have had the opportunity.

After my sister graduated, I remained with COSI Academy working with mentors from Lucent, Battelle, and currently, Abbott Foods. Each one of these challenges has been extraordinarily useful to me. With Lucent, out project was to deal with risk factors and probability – forming our own ‘company’ to determine risk potential and effect. My time working with Battelle was phenomenal. Until that point, I had never really considered engineering as a possible career for me. But building our fiber-optic switching device and working one on one with some of the brightest young minds in central Ohio as well as with mentors who really love what they do made all the difference. Whenever a question came up, our mentors were always there with the answer (or if they didn’t have the answer, they would find it). In fact, for our final presentation, after helping us with a last minute kink in the device, they aided in our actual presentation skit for those invited to our pinnacle event. As much as I would have loved to remain with Battelle again for my 5^th and final year in the Academy, a challenge with Abbott foods in designing the perfect food was what I had always hoped for. Working with my mentor, I have shared ideas and numerous laughs as well as innovative ways of discovering new products. My time with all of my mentors has allowed me to strengthen my leadership skills, work well in a group setting, and, above all, increase my love of science. Without COSI Academy, I would not have had any of these opportunities, which have shone brilliantly on my resume for my college applications. My college dreams have become easily obtainable due to the hard work and dedication of the mentors I have worked with. The passion these dedicated men and women have shown – giving up their Saturday’s for us, the young science enthusiasts - gives us a chance to learn things far beyond that of the high school classroom.

Jim Bergner
Master Technician, Battelle
COSI Academy Mentor

Mentoring: A friend at work asked if I would help him mentor a group of students at a local museum. I was hesitant at first; I have never mentored anyone and knew nothing of the topic. They were building a hydrophone out of fiber-optics. I agreed, and now in my 4^th year I am leading a group of mentors. Somehow, I still don’t know much about the projects, but we all learn together. We let the students choose what they wish to do from a list of projects that range from robotics to radiation detectors to growing specialized grass. At the end of the year the students give presentations of their projects. Although the presentations are usually quite humorous, it is impressive to see how they portray what they have learned during the year.

Mentoring has shown me a bit more of a challenge than I had anticipated. Occasionally I ask myself "Why am I doing all this?" I remember working on projects when our robots would not go, or the fiber optics broke again, and again, and yet again. But these moments are sometimes a catalyst for the greatest moments for a mentor. There is an excitement from the students when the robot not only worked, but ran over obstacles, and the cheers as they captured sound from a coil of fiber, or played music through an optical switch. These moments when the students look up and say "I like engineering" give me the answer I am looking for.

I have found that the act of mentoring students can, and does have a large impact on their career decisions. Bringing some real world experience into the hands of high school students lets them see for themselves the challenges that await them upon graduation. It can also show them a possible path to a career they would enjoy. Many of the students I mentor go on to college and I really enjoy listening to them describe where they are going and what they will study.

Bryan May
Freshman, The Ohio State University, Pre-Dentistry
COSI Academy Alumnus

COSI Academy allows for not only diverse interaction between mentor and student, but it also exposes the student to the wide array of opportunities that are available in the field of science. Mentor interaction with students provides a setting that it hard to come by. School alone can prepare one for a career in science, but only through programs such as those found at COSI Academy, can a student truly delve into a particular career or line of work. Often students become narrow-minded in regards to what careers are available in science. When you say "science" in a general sense, I believe that most students immediately think of careers such as medical doctor, or engineer, because after all, these occupations are widely known. COSI Academy shines light onto fields that students perhaps never considered, or had even heard of. I am certain that a high school aged student would not initially consider a career in researching fertilizers or expanding the use of polymer substrates, but unique opportunities such as these were an integral part of my personal experience with COSI Academy.

Mentors themselves share their physical knowledge of subject matter, but are also able to convey the importance, process, and overall fun that they have doing their work. One thing that the typical school day often lacks is the connection between what the student learns and how that knowledge is to be used in real world applications. With the mentors teaching a specific skill to students, and then immediately following up what they have shared with actual hands on activity, students can instantaneously see how their knowledge can be applied in the world of science.

Science, as a whole, is no easy task. Students who enjoy such a challenging field should have ample opportunity to have an experience such as COSI Academy, which allows their knowledge and perspective to grow hand in hand.