Week of April 20

This Week in DE
Be ready to present your utilities research during the last 1/2 hour of class on Monday.  Then, we will look at the various utilities one at a time, starting with plumbing and sewer on Wednesday.

Agendas for this Week:
Monday: Finish Service research presentations and present
Wednesday: Plumbing Codes

Field Trips/Conferences

This Thursday is the deadline to sign up for two exciting field trips available to engineering students.  Cedar Ridge High School will host the 4th annual Youth in STEM conference this Saturday (THIS Saturday, April 25).  It is from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. and doesn't cost anything to you.  There will be several companies there to demonstrate the exciting and new things that engineers are doing in their work.  There are also several exhibitions to allow attendants to get their hands dirty with engineering, game design, robotics, drones, and much  more.  Below is a partial list of the some of the exhibits that will be there.  Bring some canned food to donate to the local food bank for a chance to win an iPad or a Lego Mindstorms kit.

• Dell Alienware – Gaming Technology
• GeekBus (STEM mobile trailer out of San Antonio) - http://www.geekbus.com/
• Steve Wolf (“Science in the Movies”) - http://www.scienceinthemovies.com/
• KingsIsle Entertainment (Gaming Software) - https://www.kingsisle.com/
• Flat Iron Pre-College Academy (Drones) - http://precollege.flatironschool.com/
• AT&T (Fiber Optics)
• Texas A&M (Engineering)
• ACC (Gaming, Electronics, Auto Cad, and Computer Science)
• Texas Board of Professional Engineers (Professional Organization)

You must sign up by Thursday at the latest at the conference web site.

Then, on May 12, we will take 20 students to visit Samsung's Austin Semiconductor plant.  It is a fascinating trip, and students always enjoy the day.  You will get a chance to peek inside of an operating, fully-automated modern semiconductor plant, interact with their engineers to find out about engineering and college, tour the museum on the history of semiconductors (aka electronics or computers), and get fed a good meal.  There is no cost to you.  Just sign up (below), turn in your permission forms, and meet us at school on the morning of May 12.  We will take you to Samsung and return to campus around 2:00.  You will miss 1st, 2nd, & 3rd periods and should be back before 4th period starts.  That is the day of the French Language, Spanish Literature, or the US Government AP exam, so you won't be able to go if you are taking those.


  

This Week at RRHS
Other than a faculty meeting Thursday morning, it is a pretty normal week.  Even Thursday will follow the normal bell schedule, but there will be no Thursday morning tutorials before school because of the meeting.

This is now the last "six" weeks of the year.  Although, it is really 8 weeks long.  Things get really busy from here on, so keep on top of things.  Starting May 4, AP and STARR (or EoC) testing will cover two weeks and affect a number of our classes.  Not long after that, you should look for exemption information and start preparations for the final exams.

College Recruiter Visits

Wednesday - The University of Houston

Week of March 9

This Week in CEA
The end of last week messed up the schedule just a little bit.  This week, we will still work on beam analysis - looking at the loads and moments applied to beams in the structure of a building.  You calculated and created the diagrams from scratch, and now you will learn formulas to find the maximum shear and bending moments as well as software that can do the work for you.  You MUST have all 3 methods demonstrated in your journal: manual calculations, formulas, and MD Solids software.

Agendas:
Monday-Tuesday: Beam Analysis Shortcuts
Wednesday-Thursday: Beam Analysis
Friday: 

This Week at RRHS
I probably don't have to tell you that this is the last week before spring break!  Let's work hard and stay on top of things so that we can all enjoy a much-needed week off.  I hope that you all have fun plans for your break.

Being the 4th week of the six weeks, Interim Progress Reports will be distributed this Friday, just before the break.  Look for those to come home so that you can be aware of any issues that need to be addressed once you come back.  After the break, we will still have 3 more weeks because this six weeks actually is seven weeks long.  The end of the reporting period is April 10.

Thursday will be a late start for students as teachers will be in a department meeting.  There will be no tutorials Thursday morning, and 5th period will begin at 9:25.

College Visits This Week:
Thursday: Texas A&M Corps of Cadets Information Session

Week of Oct 13

This Week in CEA
CEA will continue with the Habitat for Humanity house design.  You should have turned in your floor plan, site plan, sectional view, rendering, and schedules (room, window, door) on Friday.  If not, get them to me ASAP.

There is an opportunity for some lucky juniors to participate in the High School Aerospace Scholars  program through NASA.  I have more detailed information on this on the Internships page linked above, but applications are now open.  High school juniors can apply to participate in a number of online sessions throughout the school year and then attend a summer internship/camp at NASA in Houston this summer (2015).  The culmination will be to participate on a research project with NASA engineers and to present your project results in front of NASA staff and media.

We will only have one class this week due to the holiday and PSAT testing day on Wednesday.  Wednesday should be an A day according to the rotation, but all students will be involved in PSAT testing or other related activities, so Thursday will be an A day, followed by the 2nd B day of the week on Friday.

Agendas This Week
I will link the agendas for each day here on the class page so that you can have more detailed information about what we are doing each day.
Thursday - Green Design

This Week at RRHS
If you look at the calendar, you would think there is a mistake with both Wednesday and Thursday being listed as an A day.  That is, in fact, actually the case - sort of.  All sophomores and juniors will take the PSAT test Wednesday morning, and the seniors and freshmen will be involved in related activities as well. Therefore, the only "normal" A day schedule will be Thursday.  Tuesday and Friday will be regular B days, and the schedule will return to normal next week.

Other than that twist, the schedule is normal.  No late start or pep rally schedules to contend with.  The six weeks, however, is not normal.  We will have only 5 weeks in this six week grading period, so staying on top of grades is even more critical than it normally would be.  The progress reporting period will end next Friday, and you will have less than 2 weeks from the time they come home before the complete end of this six weeks.  The school year is flying by quickly!

College Rep Visits This Week
None.  The next scheduled visit by a college rep will be Concordia next Tuesday.

Week of Sep 29

This Week in CEA
CEA classes will continue the home design project, covering residential code requirements and then beginning to build your home designs in Revit.  The school license allows you to download a copy of Revit for school use at home through the Autodesk Web Site.  You will have to provide a valid email address to which they will send the credentials that you will need in order to activate the software install.  Don't worry, Revit is not nearly as large a file as Inventor, so it doesn't take nearly as long to download.

• 
  
  
  Every year, we send teams to the Texas A&M University Engineering Expo, this year named the Sparc Conference. Students will form teams and compete against each other and teams from other high schools around the state in two of six competitions. The conference is held this year on Saturday, November 22. If you are interested, talk to your friends and start forming a team of at least 6 but not more than 8 students. If you can't build a team of 6 on your own, I can add you to one of our other teams or combine smaller teams. Fill out this interest form so that I can register the teams. There is no cost to you to enter the contest or even transportation. We will provide a bus to take the teams to the A&M campus.
  
  
  You can choose to compete in one of the following 6 competitoins:
  
  
  
  
  • ReservWars - Challenge competitors to understand the structure and function of petroleum reservoirs, as well as how to “clean up” when the war is over (after an oil spill).
  • The Boat Float - Have you ever wondered how huge ships made of steel float in the water? Explore the principles of buoyancy and density by designing a boat that will float! 
  • Galaxy Glider - Do you want to put your knowledge of airplanes and physics to the test? Then come and join the Galaxy Glider Contest. 
  • Bottle Rocket Cars - Propel your way to the top of the bottle rocket car racing circuit! Design a car that is propelled by a fizzy reaction and watch it beat the clock!
  • Code to Survive - Survival is an unforgiving game, and it's your job to keep your organism alive. You must program a brain to gain competitive edge! 
  • The Egg Express - Can you deliver the goods? Your engineering team must construct a casing for an egg that will withstand free fall to a hard surface from various heights, as well as have the capability to float.
  See me if you have any additional questions, but I need to register teams this week before registration fills up.
  
  
  This Week at RRHS
  No special schedules this week; just the normal routine except that this is the last week of the first six weeks.  Make sure that you are on top of all assignments and grades as I will need the weekend to get any work graded and entered before report cards come out next week. .
  
  
  College Recruiter Visits This Week:
  Monday - University of Alabama 
  Wednesday - Johns Hopkins
  Friday - Southwestern University
                 The University of Chicago
  
  
• Check with the counselors' office to sign up if you are interested in speaking with representatives of one of these universities.

Week of Sep 22

This Week in CEA
We will study heat transfer through walls and even learn how to choose the right sized air conditioner for your homes (well, the shed anyway).  This is to begin the project where you will build a house for another classmate as a client that conforms to city code regulations and the Habitat for Humanity guidelines.

Every year, we send teams to the Texas A&M University Engineering Expo, this year named the Sparc Conference. Students will form teams and compete against each other and teams from other high schools around the state in two of six competitions. The conference is held this year on Saturday, November 22. If you are interested, talk to your friends and start forming a team of at least 6 but not more than 8 students. If you can't build a team of 6 on your own, I can add you to one of our other teams or combine smaller teams. Fill out this interest form so that I can register the teams. There is no cost to you to enter the contest or even transportation. We will provide a bus to take the teams to the A&M campus.

You can choose to compete in one of the following 6 competitoins:

• ReservWars - Challenge competitors to understand the structure and function of petroleum reservoirs, as well as how to “clean up” when the war is over (after an oil spill).
• The Boat Float - Have you ever wondered how huge ships made of steel float in the water? Explore the principles of buoyancy and density by designing a boat that will float! 
• Galaxy Glider - Do you want to put your knowledge of airplanes and physics to the test? Then come and join the Galaxy Glider Contest. 
• Bottle Rocket Cars - Propel your way to the top of the bottle rocket car racing circuit! Design a car that is propelled by a fizzy reaction and watch it beat the clock!
• Code to Survive - Survival is an unforgiving game, and it's your job to keep your organism alive. You must program a brain to gain competitive edge! 
• The Egg Express - Can you deliver the goods? Your engineering team must construct a casing for an egg that will withstand free fall to a hard surface from various heights, as well as have the capability to float.

See me if you have any additional questions, but I need to register teams this week before registration fills up.

This Week at RRHS
No special schedules this week; just the normal routine. However, be aware that this is the fifth week of our six weeks, which ends next Friday (October 3). Make sure that you are on top of all assignments.

Monday - RRISD College & Career Fair at the RRHS cafeteria
Boise State University
Wednesday - University of Arkansas
Birmingham-Southern University
Thursday - Louisiana State Univeristy
University of New Hampshire
Friday - American University

Check with the counselors' office to sign up if you are interested in speaking with representatives of one of these universities.

Week of Sep 15

This Week in CEA
Now that we are finished with 3 weeks of school, it is time for progress reports that should be delivered to the students on Thursday.

CEA students should be finished with your shed by Monday and then begin calculating the cost of your shed and heat transfer through the walls.  This will set up our more involved architectural project, the Habitat for Humanity house.

If you would like to download a version of Revit to use at home, that is possible.  Our school license allows students to download and use the software for educational purposes on your home computers.  You can visit Autodesk's educational site and download the software from there.  Be sure to use Revit 2015 since that is what we have at school, and other versions will not be compatible with the files that you create at school.

Since CTE has duty every morning this week, I will not be available for tutorials except for after school hours.

Robotics Kick-off
If you are interested in Robotics, make plans to attend the kick-off meeting on Monday.   We need to organize who will be going to the kickoff event on Saturday (Sep 20) at Motorola in Oak Hill. I will provide bus transportation to the event, and we will load in front of the 100 bldg at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday and return about 4:00 p.m.  You MUST sign up to attend the event since Motorola is a secured facility.

This Week at RRHS
We will return to a normal schedule this week: no pep rallies or late starts.  However, be aware that there is a faculty meeting on Thursday, so I will not be available for tutorials.  Also, expect progress report cards to come home on Thursday.

College rep visits for this week:
Tuesday -  the Universtity of Texas
                  the University of Massachusets
                  Savanah College of Art and Design
Wednesday - California Baptist University
Friday - the University of Utah

After you finish and present your roof type model and information sheet, we will start the design of a simple, rectangular shed using Autodesk Revit(TM), which is the software that we will use in this class to make our architectural designs.

This week at RRHS
Remember that RRHS' Open House is Monday evening and starts at 6:00 p.m. with a ribbon cutting ceremony of the A Plus Credit Union branch housed in our new 1300 building followed by a brief PTSA meeting.  Parents are invited to attend the evening and then visit our classrooms.  I look forward to meeting you and to discussing your child and our the year that we will have.

College Visits This Week
Tuesday - University of Dayton
Tuesday - Texas State University
Friday - Texas Tech