The Washington DC Metropolitan Chapter of the Association for Women in Science is one of the 60 Affiliates of the Washington Academy of Sciences (WAS).  As an Affiliate, we are invited to participate in their outreach program.  Please consider volunteering your time.

************************** 

Dear Colleague,

Global competition is creating an urgent need to motivate and attract some of the best and brightest students into science and technology careers.

The Washington Academy of Sciences (W.A.S.) is expanding its "STARS" (Science and Technology Aptitude Recognition for Schools) youth-in-science outreach program.*

In recent years, the program has included not only active participation in several Senior High School Science Fairs, but also science events at Elementary and Middle Schools, a robotics competition involving 20 Middle Schools, and judging of the (81) outstanding mentored student projects for the Montgomery Blair Magnet Research Convention. Both the AAAS and the IEEE have supported our efforts by grants to the "STARS" program.

We are planning 8 major events in the 2007 school year. New initiatives will include providing judges to evaluate hundreds of student projects in a major 'Science Expo' at an area High School. We will offer a Challenge Cup, prizes, plaques, and certificates.

We are interacting with many area schools and allocating a large number of awards to secondary school students, as well as recognizing outstanding teachers.  Award winning student projects will also be recognized in the W.A.S. Journal and Web site.

Our biggest asset is your expertise and dedication and that of your fellow professionals.  I am writing to offer you the opportunity to participate as a judge in a school science project. You will not need any special preparation, and the Washington Academy of Sciences will provide everything needed on site at the school.

Typically this will involve about a 4-hour commitment at a participating school (in the DC, MD or Northern VA area) sometime in the December 2006-March 2007 time frame. The number of schools and students benefiting from the "STARS" Program depends directly on your commitment to participate.

If you are interested, please e-mail me a one-liner by November 15th 2006, saying:

"I would like to be included in the 2007 W.A.S. Judges' Roster"

and include your name, e-mail, affiliation, address, and telephone
number.

You will be notified as soon as the schools give us their event dates.

I believe you would find your interaction with fellow judges, the schools, and those enthusiastic students to be a worthwhile, rewarding, and fun experience and look forward to our collaboration in this exciting 2007 W.A.S. initiative.

Sincerely,
Paul Hazan, Vice President for W.A.S. Jr. Academy Affairs

e-mail: pmhazan -at- comcast -dot- net   Tel: (301) 603-0536

*If you have already registered by e-mail for 2007, you do NOT need to
register again