Nieves Frazier, a teacher at St. John Paul II High School, was selected to attend the STEM Teacher Summer Externship from July 16-27. She was one of fifteen teachers selected to attend the Texas Teacher Externship for STEM Education. Frazier teaches Government, Economics and World Geography. She is Student Council Sponsor and Destination Imagination Team Manager.
One of the reasons Frazier was selected may have been due to her management of the Destination Imagination teams for both Bishop Garriga Middle Preparatory School and St. John Paul II. The teams used STEM in the solutions of their yearly challenges. St. John Paul II Team won first place earlier this year for the Technical Challenge, "Maze Craze" at the Regional Tournament, making them a state qualifier.
The team used robotics, original songwriting, a chemical reaction, professional make-up artistry, original script, design of props and had to stay within a strict budget, using a ledger.
According to Externship Program website (
https://science.esc2.net/externship) the goals of the Teacher Externship Program are to engage teachers in learning about STEM industries and workplaces in the community to turn their experiences into classroom lessons, to provide a structure for collaboration among teachers and STEM industry partners and to provide opportunities for teachers to share their experiences with students and the larger school community.