The McMinnville School District’s partnership with Salesforce wrapped up its first year with student group presentations at the global technology company’s Portland campus.
Sixteen middle and high school girls completed the year-long program that featured collaborative mentoring from Salesforce employees. The girls met virtually with their mentors twice a month and worked on STEM projects that ranged from building a drone (video below), a writing robot (video below) and a robotic vacuum cleaner; designing a game and an emotional support app; creating a Virtual Reality video (video below); and fabricating an all-weather food donation dropbox.
“It’s a combination woodworking and welding project,” said Mackenzie Taylor, a sophomore at McMinnville High School (MHS) who fabricated the food container. “I designed the box and then used the plasma cutter to create the logo for the ‘Pay it Forward’ club.” The box will be placed at a local church for food collection and distribution to those experiencing homelessness.
“Key to this project is not only the integration of science, technology and engineering, but also learning to learn,” said Andrea Brown, MHS science teacher and project coordinator. “We want the girls to find work-arounds to problems, ask questions, and problem solve as an independent learners.
“We want them to develop determination and persistence and the ability to not give up even though the final outcome may not have been what was expected,” she said. “We’re hoping they can evaluate where they ended up and then go further next time.”
Click here to read more about the partnership project and here to read more about Salesforce.