A Neighborhood Outreach Program
On Thursday June 26th a luncheon was held on USC's campus, to honor participants in the Neighborhood Outreach Program. The Physics and Astronomy Department was awarded a $5,000 grant for the 2003/2004 academic year. Robert Knol, our Director of Undergraduate Affairs Physics and Astronomy and Dr. Eugene Bickers, professor in the Physics and Astronomy Department attended the luncheon to receive the award. Physics and Astronomy partnered with the 32nd Street High School offering our labs and our TA Andrei Koutouza to teach the labs to the high school students.
The students would walk as a group to our campus once a week for the lab. Our first year teaching the lab only brought 5 or 6 students and this year, our second year, brought around 23 students. The labs are taught to the high school students as a simplified version of our GE labs. The lessons are taught at the high school by the high school science teacher. The project covered the entire 1st year of physics.
Introducing the students to a university class gives the students a look at university life and introduces them to the possibilities of going to college and options for helping them to achieve this goal. Andrei has taught this lab from the inception and has enjoyed teaching the lab and hopes more students become interested in this program, which gives them the freedom to learn more about physics and astronomy. "Outcome is most important" Andrei states. Working with these students brings a sense of accomplishment and making a difference in their lives. At least half of the students taking this course ended up making plans to go on to college.
We look forward to working with the 32nd Street High School in the coming academic year and touching many more students. We would like to thank Andrei for his dedication to this project and wish him the very best as he moves on after completing his gradute program at USC.