In this newsletter you'll find:

• Robotics league kicks into high gear
  
• Alder Creek Community Forest hosts SUSD for field-based learning
  
• Winston students use Crater Lake as science lab
  
• DCPSS and the Umpqua Valley STEAM Hub receive funding for 2015-17

It's an exciting time for Douglas County middle school and high school students who have a flair for robotics. This fall marks the first time that enough teams have gathered to organize an FTC league, which has already begun meeting to prepare for a December competition at Umpqua Valley Christian School in Roseburg.

Thanks in part to connections formed through the Umpqua Valley STEAM Hub, Southern Oregon First Tech Challenge is drawing together students and their mentors from Douglas County, Medford, Grants Pass and Coquille. League members are designing, building and programming robots to do simple tasks at meets and working together to solve the inevitable obstacles that come up in the pursuit of STEAM learning.

Such skills will not only serve the students well in local and regional competitions. The activities also will make these students more attractive to colleges and/or employers seeking hands-on experience in STEAM fields.

Southern Oregon FTC is part of the Oregon Robotics Tournament & Outreach Program. See the full story on our website right here.

This school year marks the launch of a K-12 curriculum for South Umpqua School District that's called Our Place on Earth. The program's field-based learning takes place on the 78-acre Alder Creek Community Forest near Canyonville, with support from a Gray Family Foundation Geography Education grant. Watch our website for a feature about the global lessons SUSD students are absorbing at the site and how Alder Creek supports STEAM learning in Douglas County.

Here's a great example of how the community pulls together to promote STEAM education. The News-Review recently reported on this venture funded by Umpqua Watersheds Inc. to send McGovern Elementary students to Crater Lake. Winston fourth- and fifth-graders got to study the geology and history of the national park at close range. Let's hear it for a great science and nature field trip!

Legislators during the 2015 Oregon Legislative Session provided strong support for the continuation of Regional Achievement Collaboratives and STE(A)M Hubs across the state for the 2015-17 biennium. DCPSS and the Umpqua Valley STEAM Hub have been granted $207,300 so far to support infrastructure needs such as communication, data gathering, analysis and evaluation, mentor coordination, lending library maintenance and coordination and program coordination. Additional funds will be available competitively for programming needs in the future.

There are several ways DCPSS partners can utilize our channels to get their organization's message out:

• Post your event on our website calendar HERE. Original Partners asked that our website act as a clearinghouse, or one-stop-shop about like-minded, student and child-focused organizations.
• Submit information or an article about how your organization's work supports student achievement and addresses one of the four goals to which DCPSS is committed.
  

Your Choice, Your Future, Act Now! Visit us through any of these channels to find learn more about DCPSS, our mission, and how you can contribute to this homegrown effort to help all students open doors to bright futures.

Email: dcpssnews@gmail.com
Website: www.dcpss.org
Facebook: facebook.com/UVRSH