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BY VENICE BUHAIN

THE OLYMPIAN

LACEY - In Mary Holmberg's Meadows Elementary School classroom recently, students painstakingly glued Popsicle sticks together for bridges.

But sixth-grader Haylee Averill and Emily Diggs, both 12, know Holmberg's after-school MESA club isn't just something to do on a rainy day.

It's a rehearsal for competition in March against other schools in the Puget Sound area.

"I thought we were going to add up numbers and stuff, but we get to build stuff," Haylee said.

"I think math is fun," she added. "I love it."

Career possibilities

Holmberg has taught the Washington state Mathematics, Engineering and Science Achievement program as an after-school activity at Meadows for seven years. Four universities and about 70 businesses support the program to encourage minorities and women to consider careers in engineering, a profession in which they are underrepresented. The program continues through Nisqually Middle School and River Ridge High School.

The projects include everything from making a car that glides with a sail, Popsicle-stick bridges built to withstand as much weight as possible, weighing and separating apples, designing a model of the brain, and dropping eggs from great heights.

"The projects that we work on are so exciting, and it fits with all the curriculum we have to cover," Holmberg said.

"It's all hands-on science," she said. "How could you say no to a class like that?"

The students will continue until a competition at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma in March. Holmberg also is organizing students for the state Math Olympiad in May.

Recently, MESA awarded Holmberg with the second annual Mona Bailey Outstanding Teacher Award.

"She is a teacher who believes all students can learn and it's just a matter of finding the right technique," state MESA director Patricia MacGowan said. "We wanted to reward her for her success in the classroom and for her total perseverance and because she keeps bringing new resources into the classroom."

Targeting diversity

MESA targets school districts that have a highly diverse populations, MacGowan said. About 55 percent of Meadows Elementary School students are students of color. About 40 percent of the school is low income.

According to MESA literature, about 96 percent of students who participate in MESA programs throughout the nation go to college.

Though the program was developed to assist minority students, Holmberg doesn't turn anyone away who wants to be in the after-school program. About 28 students come after school, and Holmberg brings some of the lessons into the two math classes that she teaches at Meadows.

Holmberg was confident that this year's group of sixth-graders will have a good showing at the competition this year. Last year, they scored six awards in seven categories.

"These kids will compete with sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade kids," she said. "Meadows has always done well."