Host Highlight: University of North Carolina, Charlotte

Background
"The foundation of the UNC Charlotte program is the creation of the NCJETS clubs on middle and high school campuses," explains UNCC TEAMS Coordinator Deb Sharer. These NCJETS club activities revolve around a series of competitions and events held throughout the academic year and are designed to encompass mathematical, scientific, and communication skills necessary in the engineering and engineering technology fields, with one such competition being TEAMS.

Meet the Host
The UNC Charlotte Leadership Team consists of Dr. Deborah (Deb) Sharer, Assistant Dean Patricia (Patty) Tolley and co-Student Project Directors Mike Phillips and Adam Harris. While Deb is the Principle Investigator of Phase II, both she and Patty have both learned "that Mike and Adam rule when it comes to coordination and implementation of the project… we pretty much do what we are told!" says Sharer.

The Competition
The TEAMS competition is part of a multi-event day for high school clubs on the UNC Charlotte campus. "We are still refining the order of our competitions and events but, in 2008, we held TEAMS, a beam competition and a poster competition on the same day. Our clubs are generally large enough that they are able to sponsor a varsity and JV TEAMS team of eight students each and also have teams for beams and posters. Of course, we try to overlap as little as possible so everyone can root for their club!"

This club structure also allows for community college and university student chapters of professional societies to provide mentors for secondary school students. Additionally, specially-trained College of Engineering students serve as NCJETS mentors, and attend meetings on the club's home campus as well as act as a resource for competitions and other events.

The Benefits
"JETS provides a wonderful opportunity for students to work together and prepare for this challenging competition. Club sponsors report that their students often get together after school to practice and prepare for the event. I know the UNC Charlotte project team is always inspired when we see a couple hundred high school students having fun with math and science so early in the morning!" says Deb.

While the UNC Charlotte team can see their hard work paying off on the faces of the students who visit their campus every year, the team also has an extensive assessment tools and processes that helps them receive solid feedback so that they can continually improve their program.