Celeste Students Participate in TAMU-C
X-TEEMS Academy

Six Celeste ISD students spent two weeks of their summer break in school. While their peers were sleeping late and enjoying the last few weeks of summer break, the Celeste ISD X-TEEM participants were arriving at school before eight A.M. and attending classes and activities throughout the day. The students were never late, they never missed a day, and what is perhaps most impressive, they loved every minute of it. Students built and programmed a Lego Mindstorm robot, built and tested a working wind tunnel, and they anesthetized and observed tadpoles under a microscope. These were just a few of the many challenging educational activities that the Celeste Jr. High and Celeste High School X-TEEMS participants worked on this summer. The Greater Texas Foundation grant and Texas A & M-Commerce coordinated this project which promotes the interest and learning in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, Education, and Math.  Celeste High School science teacher, Mitch Jordan and Celeste Middle School science teacher, Cathy Jones are leading the combined team of 11th graders Logan Curtiss and Josh McCaslin, 10th grader Jo Ventura, and 7th graders Alyson Burke, Richard Horton and Hunter Little.  The students and teachers participated in a wide variety of activities while at the two-week summer academy including observing the student's brain waves with an electroencephalogram (EEG), learning how to produce bio-diesel from vegetable oil, and attending lectures on many different subjects. Along with the summer camp, the students are also provided with the opportunity to do a project of their choice that they will work on throughout the school year. Although the students were torn between many different areas of interest, they decided to build an ethanol(corn alcohol) fueled hovercraft. The Celeste ISD X-TEEM decided on this project to satisfy their interest in extreme engineering and their desire to learn more about a more environmentally friendly and renewable fuel source such as ethanol. The students are also going to investigate a economical and high tech interactive white board. Mr. Jordan and Mrs. Jones are very excited to work with this tremendous group of Celeste Students.  "These students represented Celeste ISD with a great deal of enthusiasm and pride at the Academy. I believe that this experience had a very positive effect on the students and sparked a real interest in science, engineering, and technology," said Mr. Jordan.

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X-TEEM members: Alyson Burke, Richard Horton, Jo Ventura, Hunter Little, Josh McCaslin, Logan Curtiss and X-TEEMS teachers:  Cathy Jones and Mitch Jordan with special guest: Voyager astronaut Jeana Yeager

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Celeste ISD
X-TEEMS Brochure