Project Challenge
Clarkson University offers academic "Challenges" to North Country High School students. Project Challenge, a popular winter months program offered by Clarkson University, provides area students an opportunity to participate in classes they cannot normally find at their high school. Five-week courses are taught by Clarkson University faculty and administrators on Saturday mornings from 9 a.m. until noon, beginning in mid January. The program is administered by The Clarkson School, the University's early entrance program for talented high school students who have completed eleventh grade and are ready to begin college studies.
Project Challenge 2013 Courses are held Saturday mornings 9:00 - 12:00 (noon) on January 12, 19, 26; February 2 and 9 (with a snow date of February 16). To register, you may contact your Guidance Counselor or print our 2013 Registration Form. The courses this year include the following (and descriptions below):
- NEW! Sustainability: Tree Hugger Hype or Blueprint for the Future?
- NEW! Mytholympics
- NEW! College Athletics 101
- Emerging Leaders 101
- Intro to Entrepreneurship
- Blood and Guts: Medical History through the Ages
- Hands-on Computing: Making Your Home Computer Work for You!
- Real Medicine
- The First Amendment in American Democracy
- Cryptography through the Ages
- Engineering for Life
Project Challenge 2013 Course Descriptions:
NEW! Sustainability: Tree-Hugger Hype or Blueprint for the Future? – Instructor: Professor Bill Vitek
The sustainability movement is celebrating its 25th birthday. An offshoot of the environmental movement, it has become a central feature in government, industry and education, even if people don’t agree on the meaning of the term. Some call it green washing, others a radical left wing conspiracy, and still others a strong dose of common sense. This course introduces students to the sustainability movement and its key principles and voices. We will discuss and debate the challenges faced by the movement, and its range of solutions, from wind turbines and squiggly light bulbs to radical changes in how we think about ourselves and the rest of the planet. (Limited to 20 students) Location: Bertrand H. Snell Hall Room 175
NEW! Mytholympic Games - Instructors: Michelle Crimi, Shane Rogers and selected Clarkson Students
Calling all Mythletes! Come, participate, and compete in exciting and fun challenges that will give you practice using those theories and equations you have learned in science and math classes to challenge common myths… Does gum REALLY take 7 years to digest? Is the 5 second rule truly valid? Should we really not drink water coming out of a hot tap? Is Grandma right… should we be eating our carrots and bread crusts to be strong and healthy? Can we really use duct tape to repair just about anything (or can we at least use it to repair ducts)? Does it really take more muscles to frown than it does to smile? Maybe you’ve heard some arguments for or against these common myths. This course will provide opportunity to use hands-on scientific approaches and tools to investigate and support or refute these claims. Each week we will address a different claim and students will have the opportunity to present the instructors with their own challenge! (Limited to 40 students) Location: Science Center 134
NEW! College Athletics 101 - Instructors: Laurel Kane, Johan Dulfer
Athletics is more than just standing on the sideline as a coach. Find out what it takes to coach and administrate at the collegiate level. You will learn the psychology behind the sport, the ins and outs of the athletic recruiting process. You will learn how to prepare practices and what it takes to prepare for games. Topics will cover developing coaching skills to athletic administration as well as how to market and promote teams, manage sporting events, prepare an athletic budget and manage a sporting facility along with overseeing Division I and Division III programs. (Limited to 20 students) Location: “Our Place” in Cheel Campus Center
Emerging Leaders 101 – Instructors: Brenda Kozsan, Kevin Lobdell and Chris Victoria
Leadership means deciding to have a positive impact on your environment while being compassionate. It doesn't always mean holding a specific title or position. To lead, you must act. A leader is not someone who stands by and does nothing. Our course encourages students to have a positive effect on their surroundings and become true leaders at their school, in the community, and in future positions. The focus of this class will be on learning about the characteristics of an effective leader and developing skills through personal assessment, role playing, team- building, and interacting with invited guest speakers who will share their experiences. (Limited to 20 students) Location: Bertrand H. Snell Hall 214
Intro to Entrepreneurship - Instructor: Erin Draper
Have you ever thought about owning a business? What about being the CEO or manager of a company? This fast paced course will focus on the entrepreneurial spirit of students and allow them to apply classroom concepts in a “real-world” context. During the class students will be exposed to leadership principles, team building, ethical decision making, financial statements, and marketing principles. (Limited to 20 students) Location: Technology Advanced Center (TAC) 206
Blood and Guts: Medical History through the Ages – Instructor: Professor Stephen Casper
Could you diagnose a seventeenth-or a nineteenth-century medical condition? To do so you would have to know about the different ways the body and illness have been thought about historically. You might also want to know how people from those time periods ‘cured’ diseases or illnesses. Whether you want to become a doctor or surgeon, enter a PA program, work in physiotherapy, or are just fascinated by old stories of blood, guts and gore, ‘Medicine through the Ages’ will have something interesting for you. As well as looking at the ‘big’ changes that have occurred in medicine, we will be exploring questions like: Who had the power: the patient or the practitioner? Why did we stop believing in bodily humors and astrology? What is ‘medical tourism’ and why are there black markets for body organs? and is the medical ‘numbers game’ a new or old phenomenon? Over the five classes you will also get the opportunity to explore a number of different case studies from actual historical medical records. These will give you the chance to apply your new knowledge sets and advance your medical problem solving skills! (Limited to 25 students) Location: Bertrand H. Snell Hall 177
Hands-On Computing: Making Your Home Computer Work for You! Instructor: Professor Jeanna Matthews
Do you have a computer at home? Are you ready to make it work for you? Would you like to learn about how attackers can break into your system and how you can stop them? Do you want to learn more about how it really works? In this course, you will do a set of hands-on computing labs that allow you to “pop the hood” on your computer systems. You’ll see what kind of data goes over the network when you surf the web or use AIM as well as look at traces of common attacks like viruses or worms. You’ll write your own web page and read and run simple computer programs. You will learn to install an operating system from Windows to free operating systems like Linux. You’ll even take apart a computer, learn to recognize its parts and then put it back together again. (Limited to 25 students) Location: Science Center 334
Real Medicine – Instructors: Dawn White, Michael Whitehead, Keith Young, Mario Ciani
Big surprise! Most of the medical information you see on TV is not accurate. Join the faculty of Clarkson’s new Physician Assistant (PA) program to learn about medicine in the real world. You will explore careers in healthcare. Have you ever wondered how to take someone’s pulse and heart rate? What do doctors look for when they look in your ears and eyes? Through the use of a stethoscope, you will be able to listen to the heart and lungs. How well do you breathe? You will learn how to measure this and look at X-rays to see what pneumonia and other conditions look like. What is a CAT scan or an MRI? You will find out! Have you ever broken a bone? We’ll visualize X-rays of fractures and then do some splinting of the arms and legs. You will learn how to put stitches in, test your blood sugar and find out what happens when someone has a heart attack or stroke. Join us to learn more about the real world of today’s medicine. (Limited to 20 students) Location: Clarkson Hall 1207 (Physician Assistant Classroom)
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The First Amendment in American Democracy - Instructor: Professor Christopher Robinson
Students will read a series of U.S. Supreme Court cases and through discussion and mock trials consider the relation of the liberties guaranteed by the First Amendment to the quality of democracy we know in America today. The course will focus on cases on freedom of speech, religious freedom, and freedom of the press. Of particular concern is the effect of the war and national security on these freedoms. Students will read actual court cases and engage in a series of debates and mock trials that concern First Amendment questions. (Limited to 18 students) Location: Bertrand H. Snell Hall, Room 169
Cryptography through the Ages - Instructor: Professor Christino Tamon
Cryptography is the science of designing and breaking secret codes. This course will describe the progress of cryptography through the ages, from the time of the Roman Empire, through the modern day techniques of the digital revolution, and to the future ideas based on quantum physics. The course will focus on the basic underlying ideas of cryptography and their simple implementations using computer programs. A fair amount of the course material will involve computer programming in a suitable programming language. Some basic knowledge of mathematics and programming would be helpful but is not necessary. (Limited to 10 students) Location: Science Center, Room 336
Engineering for Life - Instructor: Melissa Richards
Ever wanted to design and build your own rocket, tractor, roller-coaster, automobile, or robotic arm? In this class you will learn how engineers are able to design the devices we see everywhere around us!! You will even have the opportunity to design and build your own “Rec-Rube-y”! What is that you may ask? …. I guess you will have to register to see!! (Limited to 15 students) Location: CAMP 176
