Middle School Mentoring Program at Wheeling University Gathers STEAM
Joselyn King Trending
WHEELING - Education students at Wheeling University are once again mentoring middle school students with a focus on inspiring their math and science development.
The Help Enrich Someone Special (HESS) mentoring program involves 12 seventh grade students from Wheeling Middle School being transported after school to Wheeling University, where 12 education students - all aspiring teachers - take on leadership skills mentor the students through a series of challenges involving science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM) skills.
WU previously had a mentoring program linking education majors with local students in local schools, but that stopped during the COVID era, explained Dianna Vargo, director of graduate education and ACT programs at WU.
Vargo applied for a grant through the Hess Family Foundation to resume the program, but with a focus on STEAM education, she said. WU received $20,000 for its STEAM-based mentoring program.
"The HESS Mentoring Program enhances the critical thinking skills of the Wheeling Middle School students by providing them with the opportunity to participate in science, technology, art, and mathematics education," said Dianna Vargo, director of graduate education and ACT programs at WU. "The students work collaboratively with their peers and Wheeling University mentors to solve problems creatively.
"And by bringing the Wheeling Middle School students to Wheeling University they are given the opportunity to experience a college campus."
The students are now halfway through a 10-week program that takes place at WU. When the school day is over, they and counselor Zoe Woods and teacher Reiley Parker board a bus that takes them to the WU campus. The students participate in group instruction and have dinner there before the bus drops them off at their individual homes in the evening.
The first week the students went to the Challenger Learning Center at WU, where they participated in a Mars Rover drop activity. In the second week, the students were exposed to poetry by Dr. Paula Makris.
Week 3 saw the students beginning to consider how they might live on Mars, and how they would build a habitat, then the SMART Center in Wheeling came the next week to guide the students in the building of rockets they later would launch by stomping on a 2-liter bottle.
This week saw them back at the Challenger Learning Center building their habitat, and utilizing an iPad app featuring "augmented reality" to study conditions on Mars.
Future sessions will involve the physical therapy department at Wheeling University, and more at the Challenger Learning Center
Mentor Batson Sheets aspires to be a special education teacher, and he is presently the student government president at WU.
Sheets noted his role as president helped prepare him for mentoring the students, and that through the mentoring he has gained real-life skills.
"Nothing quite compares to this leadership role," Sheets explained. "The experience is also going to benefit me as a special education teacher. "
Keala McCurry added the program is in line with WU's mission, which is about "leadership, service, and an education that will last a lifetime."
"I've loved watching the kids grow," she said. "I wasn't sure of what to expect."
Adrianna Patrone added that what she has learned as a mentor is patience, and how important it is to encourage the students to work together.
"It's a great program for middle school students to be on college campuses," she said. "It might encourage them to one day want to be in this environment."