Feb 27, 2019 | Innovation, Stemworks
The one-day Patsy T. Mink Summit at the MACC, hosted by Maui Economic Development Board’s (MEDB) STEMworks™, was an inspiring and informative gathering for high school girls of all backgrounds to network with successful female leaders in the community. “We are partnering with MEDB STEMworks™ for a second year bringing the Girls Summit to Maui,” said Colleen McAlaney, Director of Patsy T. Mink Center for Business and Leadership, YMCA Oahu. “The program is based on building interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) career paths. Through workshops in Financial Literacy, Engineering Design Challenge, Mentoring, and Advocacy, the young women explored diverse careers, defined their personal ambitions, and learned what it will take to achieve them.”
“We are excited to partner with Mink Center to host this amazing event,” said Mapu Quitazol, MEDB Program Manager. “It is important for our young women to see and hear from professional women who are in leadership and technical roles. Girls are empowered when they practice creative thinking and decision making skills.”
Mentor Leah Belmonte, Maui Representative for Governor David Ige, said, “It was so refreshing to be able to speak with our youth in mentoring sessions and be a positive influence to help them prepare and succeed in the workplace.” Keynote speaker Deanna Garcia, Corporate Operations Manager/Maui Site Lead, Akimeka LLC, explained, “Starting as an MEDB intern, I had so many opportunities that taught me how to improve my leadership skills. Whatever you dream is possible. MEDB helps you succeed. They want you to ask questions and seek out what you want to achieve. Personally, I’m so grateful, I want to give back to the community.”
Isabelle Collier, Baldwin High School 11th grader, concluded, “The Girls Summit was definitely beneficial. We were all able to talk and learn from a variety of mentors who gave us short term advice as well as advice that will be beneficial to our future. Every second at the event we were learning something new. It was an experience that every girl should be able to use in her life.”
Patsy T. Mink, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Hawaii, advocated for numerous issues, programs, and projects, including empowerment of women. I want to do the same for our community.
Deanna Garcia, Corporate Operations Manager/Maui Site Lead, Akimeka LLC
Feb 13, 2019 | Education, Stemworks
The STEMworks™ Summer Internship, the flagship program of the Maui Economic Development Board’s (MEDB) Women in Technology Project (WIT), provides work-based learning opportunities that help build critical and creative thinking. The internship program prepares students for a STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) career by providing real world opportunities to develop meaningful projects. STEMworks™ students are matched with a host company based on the company’s project needs, and the skills of the student.
Summer internships in 2019 will run from June 10 through July 18 and applicants must be STEMworks™ participating high school students. Students can apply from March 18, 2019 and until May 9. Students will be notified of their application status by May 17. For more information, go to http://stemworkshawaii.org/internships Last year, thirty-one high school students representing the most promising STEM talent across the state presented their innovative projects at the STEMworks™ Summer Internship Showcase, highlighting the experiences they had with their host company mentors.
Hadassa Ballarta, Maui High School, interning as a programmer at Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), said, “My project with AFRL consisted of scripting a planetarium presentation that incorporated the culture of Polynesian way-finding. In doing so, I was able to learn a new programming language and gain a better understanding of the stars above us and, overall, our universe.This internship has made me aware of new job possibilities and fields that I never knew existed!”
Tehya Purdy-Yamane, King Kekaulike High School, interning as a GIS specialist at the MEDB-Maui County Healthcare Partnership, said, “For my STEMworks™ Internship I worked with data from different Maui County medical facilities and compiled them into files that would later be uploaded and imported to a medical map as data points on ArcGIS. My mentor and I created a story map that is easy to operate and understand when someone is looking for a certain medical field, being anything from physical therapy to hospice.”
MEDB’s summer internships were enhanced with weekly professional speakers and training sessions as well as STEMworks™ “LIVE” webinars designed to inspire and build student’s professional skills.
Lalaine Pasion, WIT Project Manager
Jan 9, 2019 | Education, Stemworks
Growing up in Hawaii, Robert Kalei Miller, a geospatial information analyst at the Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) in Kihei, was always interested in learning about geography and technology. His goal was to obtain a college degree in geospatial technologies with the hope of working on Maui, where he grew up. At King Kekaulike High School, under the guidance of Mrs. Emily Haines-Swatek, Miller joined Project EAST−now called STEMworks™, a program of Maui Economic Development Board’s (MEDB) Women in Technology Project.
“STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) gave me the opportunity to gain exposure in my interested career field,” said Miller. “For three consecutive summers, I was fortunate to work as a STEMworks™ Intern for the PDC, where I developed work skills and professional relationships. I learned more about geographic information systems and I discovered that I could turn my personal interest in geography into a real career.”
After graduating in 2013 from Portland State University in Oregon, Miller was offered a full-time position at PDC as a Geospatial Information Analyst. His job directly supports disaster efforts locally and internationally, and is a dream come true for him.
“Through MEDB’s STEM programs my career goals and dreams turned into reality,” Miller said. “MEDB’s educational programs provided me with an opportunity that many local youth continue to benefit from today. It is an honor to continue to work with MEDB and be one of the first recipients of the Jeanne Unemori Skog Leader & Entrepreneur (JUS) Fund. The Fund supports the next generation of visionaries through innovative programs, projects and other initiatives that develop future leaders and entrepreneurs to benefit the people of Maui County”
Miller’s JUS award allowed him to attend the two-day EMER-GEN Conference for young professionals, aged 35 and under, in the space industry. “This was a great opportunity to learn from renowned space specialists, network with industry peers, and learn professional skills,” he said. “The knowledge and experiences I gained from EMER-GEN will help me with my continued career growth.”
MEDB is committed to helping young professionals and students of all ages to achieve their dreams. They are a blessing to Maui County!
Robert Kalei Miller, Geospatial Information Analyst, Pacific Disaster Center
Oct 10, 2018 | Education, Stemworks
Sean McCormick, King Kekaulike High School, was among the 31 high school students participating in Maui Economic Development Board’s (MEDB) Women in Technology Project (WIT) STEMworks™ Summer Internship Program. For six weeks, the STEMworks™ interns aligned their abilities and interests with industry professionals throughout the islands. The experience provided invaluable work-based learning for the STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) students to explore career pathways.
McCormick’s STEMworks™ Internship project included creating a computer program that can help astronomers find and predict the transit of an exoplanet, the passage of a planet between a star and the Earth. He worked with Dr. J. D. Armstrong, an astronomer and the Education Outreach Specialist from the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy (IfA).
McCormick explained, “An exoplanet is a planet orbiting around a star other than the Sun. Exoplanets are difficult to identify as they cannot be directly seen in a telescopic image due to their distance from Earth. Exoplanets are identified when they block a small amount of light from the star they are orbiting. Observations are collected, and the intensity of the star is graphed over time. If there is an exoplanet, the graph will have a U-shaped dip. The radius of the planet, relative to the parent star, can be determined at this point by using the ratio of the star’s intensity when the exoplanet is transiting and when it is not. This is indicative of how much of the light from the star is being blocked by the exoplanet. I discovered that entering the collected data into a supercomputer is the best approach to this problem.”
McCormick found his project fun and challenging—trying to learn the math and figure out how to automate it. He noted, “I am looking forward to continuing to work on research projects with both STEMworks™ and the IfA in the future.”
Dr. Armstrong concluded, “Every year MEDB sends me some amazing interns to work with. I appreciate the level of skills, hard work, and creativity they bring to the IfA.”
During my summer internship I had the chance to analyze the light from stars to discover exoplanets. Thank you STEMworks™ and IfA for the opportunity to experience a job in astronomy!
Sean McCormick, King Kekaulike High School
Sep 19, 2018 | Education, Stemworks
For the nearly 500 guests who attended this year’s annual Maui Economic Development Board’s (MEDB) Ke Alahele Education Fund Benefit Dinner, the love of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) was in the air. Held at the Grand Wailea Resort, the festive evening showcased Maui County’s STEM stars and raised funds to support MEDB’s STEM education programs throughout our county and across the state.
During the program, students also had an opportunity to share their love of STEM. Jeffrey Ho, 4th grader at Pukalani School enthusiastically said, “I’ve been a part of the STEMworks™ AFTERschool program for 2-years and have been exposed to robots, ozobots, coding, digital media, CAD, 3D printing, and more! These experiences have helped me gain leadership skills and confidence.”
Yasha Ronquillo, Maui High School alumna and STEMworks™ intern, observed, “If I were to describe the power of STEM for me personally it would be growth and opportunity. During my 6-week internship I networked with students and STEM industry professionals that I will continue to keep in contact with.” The students all thanked MEDB and STEMworks™ for the encouragement to embrace change and pursue opportunities for growth.
New to the event was the presentation of the Czechowicz Teaching Excellence Award, created by two former teachers, Lesley and Pawel Czechowicz, in honor of their mothers. The inaugural award recognized three exceptional STEMworks™ facilitators in Maui Nui: Cindel Jacintho of Lanai Elementary & High School’s after school program; Iolani Kuoha of ‘O Hina I Ka Malama, Molokai Middle Hawaiian Immersion School; and Emily Haines-Swatek of King Kekaulike High School.
The evening’s finale was the presentation of the Daniel K. Inouye Innovation Award, the highest student award MEDB presents. This year, the award went to 2018 King Kekaulike graduate Justin Hanks for integrating all the resources and skills he learned in the STEMworks™ program. For his senior project, Hanks put on elementary school STEM camps to encourage innovation and creativity in younger students.
MEDB Board President Ryan Churchill concluded, “We thank all those who have contributed and played a role in our youth’s love of STEM. It’s truly an investment that has the power to come full circle, helping to shape our leaders of tomorrow and ensuring a bright future for our islands.”
These funds will provide state-of-the-art technology tools for our students and training for our teachers — investments that will make a difference in the lives of our residents and our community.
Leslie Wilkins, MEDB President and CEO
Sep 5, 2018 | Education, Stemworks
Sophia and Christine Davis, Kihei Charter School, were among 31 of the most promising STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) high school and college students presenting their innovative projects at the 2018 STEMworks™ Summer Internship Showcase. Created by Maui Economic Development Board’s (MEDB) Women in Technology Project (WIT), the six-week STEMworks™ Summer Internship provides statewide, work-based learning opportunities for students, matching their interest and skills with the needs of the host company.
Mentor Ron Viloria from qubedup Company noted, “STEMworks™, cultivated by MEDB’s WIT, has proven itself to be the single most valuable resource for my company’s launch. The Davis sisters had the opportunity to step up and grow the qubedup work environment. During the last six weeks my company went from just being registered to having a web presence and items for sale. Sophia has built a prototype “smart lei” that has safety, medical, and entertainment applications. It’s our take on improving and promoting a portion of local Hawaiian culture.”
Viloria continued, “Christine heads the Social Media campaigns of the company and started a Hawaii-positivity movement for the community. Everything is rooted in stories and their stories are just unfolding.”
Sophia said, “My STEMworks™ Internship projects were several notably different yet connected projects. My first project was a smart lei, a unique Hawaiian-style wearable technology with various lights and sensors that react to the world around it. The second was creating digital designs that have an extra story or layer for our Redbubble portfolio and other print-on-demand merchandise services. The final project is designing and coding a special web app for qubedup that has a connection to some of my designs. Thanks MEDB for hands-on experience in a real workplace!”
Christine added, “At qubedup, I worked on creating innovative fashion technology that included marketing, social media managing, and logo designs for products. Being a STEMworks™ intern means being part of a network of passionate individuals in the STEM education movement. It helped me solidify potential career paths, dedicate myself to interesting and innovative work, and change the world through STEM.”
STEMworks™ students have a unique opportunity to explore technical and professional development and embrace new life skills to create change in their local communities.
Lalaine Pasion, WIT Project Assistant
Aug 15, 2018 | Education, Innovation, Stemworks
Molokai High School’s (MHS) Mākaʻikaʻi iā grant from Maui Economic Development Board’s (MEDB) Ke Alahele Education Fund provided support for the school’s O Hina I Ka Malama Hawaiian Immersion Program. “The main outcome of the grant produced a series of virtual field trips of environments on Molokai showcasing important natural and cultural resources,” said Gandharva Mahina Hou Ross, Molokai High School Hawaiian Language Immersion teacher and boys’ cross-country coach. “This curriculum model is place and culture- based and uses technology as a way of tying in the state performance standards and making education relevant. The grant gave the students the opportunity to create a website that documents the different environments on Molokai.”
Ross explained, “We took monthly field trips to various marine environments to conduct culture-based inquiry of important marine resources. Students traveled to the northwest, south and east coasts of Molokai to do shoreline monitoring. They collected samples of marine algae, marine invertebrates and marine vertebrates for further investigation in the classroom. Samples were identified with Latin, Hawaiian and common names, along with their habitat, diet, life cycle, traditional Hawaiian uses and management practices. After taking film footage on our field trip, the students used green-screen editing technique to describe what they saw.”
Funds were also used to create an internet domain for O Hina I Ka Malama’s bilingual website as a database to archive our program activities. The marine field guide will be archived on the school website that the students designed. Through the virtual field trips, the grant also enabled the students to create multimedia presentations on Molokai, at the annual MEDB Women in Technology (WIT) STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) Conference, and at Hawaiian Language Immersion schools throughout Hawaii.
“I want to thank MEDB and WIT STEMworks™ for the Ke Alahele grant,” said Kauiwai Poepoe-Mollena, MHS 12th grader. “They provided us with the newest technology resources to complete our field trip tasks such as meter-square plots, ARC GIS mapping, cameras and GPS to mark points at the designated areas.”
On Saturday, August 25, 2018, MEDB will hold their annual Ke Alahele Education Fund Benefit Dinner & Auction at the Grand Wailea Resort. For more information call (808) 875-2300 or email cari@medb.org. Please join us!
Leslie Wilkins, MEDB President and CEO
Aug 8, 2018 | Education, Stemworks
Maui resident Steve McCaughey recently joined a growing number of private-citizen space enthusiasts from all walks of life who serve as NASA Solar System Ambassadors (SSA). The nation-wide SSA program brings the excitement of NASA’s space exploration to children, teachers, and adults in the community. As an Ambassador, McCaughey will deliver information about NASA’s vast endeavor of missions and scientific study, through school programs, planetarium talks, telescope-viewing parties, mall displays and much more.
McCaughey describes himself as a “lover of the night sky.” He first came to Hawaii in 1973 on a 40-foot schooner, with no GPS satellites to help navigate. “We conducted daytime sun sightings at noon and 2pm with a sextant, and computed our position with logarithmic tables,” he explained. “At night I had the 4am watch and I steered the boat by the stars. I fell in love with the constellations and notable objects in the sky that can be observed with binoculars, and I began studying double stars.”
Soon after, McCaughey joined the Hawaii Amateur Astronomers (HAA). He purchased a Celestron 9.25-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope with an equatorial mount on a pier, and a 104mm refractor that he uses for educational outreach. He began attending the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy (UH IfA) AstroTalks in Pukalani, and a few years ago helped form the Maui Double Star Association, a group of students and adults who do observations of double stars. Some of the student participants ended up being co-authors on a paper in the Journal of Double Star Observations, and one is majoring in physics because of this experience.
With the inspiration of Dr. J. D. Armstrong, UH IfA Educational Outreach Specialist, McCaughey’s HAA group has conducted astronomy outreach on Maui for the past ten years. They travel to STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) conferences, conventions, schools and other events with their telescopes. “McCaughey’s dedication to community engagement with space science is outstanding,” said Dr. Armstrong. “Regarding his recent NASA Ambassadorship appointment, we look forward to sharing more with him.” For educational outreach information, call (808) 281-2468.
I look forward to bringing the world of NASA and astronomy to those who are interested in ‘looking up’. The youth of today are the ones who will take us on and beyond!
Steve McCaughey, NASA Solar System Ambassador
Aug 1, 2018 | Education, Stemworks
Maui Economic Development Board’s (MEDB) Ke Alahele Education Fund grantee, the Lihikai Elementary School Surferbots in Kahului, applied their grant towards the VEX IQ Robotics challenge events, purchasing parts and registration fees. “This program allows students the opportunity to apply STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) classroom concepts to a technological product,” said Lihikai teacher, Kelly Imada. “It also introduces and reinforces the engineering design process through the challenges of competing with other teams. Our Lihikai robotics program builds interest for students in STEM subjects as they progress through elementary, intermediate, and high-school.”
“Thanks to MEDB, this was the Surferbots’ most successful year,” said Imada. “Our two teams competed in tournaments at Lahainaluna High School and the Valley Isle Tournaments. We were also honored with the Judge’s Award at the Baldwin High School Vex IQ Tournament.”
The Surferbots had fifteen members on two teams and both qualified for State competition at the Hawaii Convention Center. Team A qualified through the skills challenge and made it into the top 16 going to the elimination matches at the 2018 Hawaii State VEX IQ Tournament. Team B qualified by winning the Excellence Award at the Valley Isle Tournament in December and were awarded the Think Award in the State VEX IQ Tournament.
“In addition to building robots and competing, the students learn problem-solving skills, teamwork, responsibility, and commitment,” Imada said. “We are very grateful to the Ke Alahele donors. Without their support we would not be able to provide these valuable experiences in robotics to our students.” The Surferbots agreed, “Robotics helped us understand more about technology and working hard to reach a goal step by step, retrying and improving. Robotics taught us that if you want to achieve something, it takes trial and error, and working together as a team.”
On Saturday, August 25, 2018, MEDB will hold their annual Ke Alahele Education Fund Benefit Dinner & Auction at the Grand Wailea Resort to celebrate the STEM achievements of students in Maui County and statewide. For more information call (808) 875-2300 or email cari@medb.org.
Robotics helped me understand more about technology and working hard to reach a goal. I feel great about being on this team because I get to learn with others.
Surferbot Team Member, Lihikai Elementary School
