Grand Canyon University is hosting the annual International Christian School STEM Competition on Saturday, April 22^nd at GCU.  The competition provides STEM competitions for students in grades 7-12 at Christian schools across the United States and internationally.  Judges from industry are needed to evaluate team deliverables based on established judging criteria.

2022-23 STEM Challenges include:

• Aerospace Glider
• Rehabilitation Challenge: Biomedical Engineering
• Capture the Flag (Honeypot)
• Deep Racer Challenge
• Innovation in Service
• Onsite Design Challenge
• Robotics Thunder Lunch
• Software Development: Side Scrolling Game

Judges should expect to be at GCU on Saturday, April 22^nd from 7:30 AM – Noon.  Breakfast and lunch will be provided.

• Judges should sign up by completing the form: https://canyonpd.org/icsc23judges 
• Please send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to let him know that you are participating in this endeavor.
• Track the hours that you spend performing your feedback responsibilities.

If you have any questions, please contact the competition coordinator:

Cece Bosma M.Ed.

K12 Professional Development Manager | K12 Educational Development

Grand Canyon Education

602-639-8073 Office | 480-415-5843 Cell | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

Be a Donor, Be a Hero.

My family and I will always celebrate August 24th as the day I was given a second chance at life. With the help of Blood and Plasma Donors like you, along with the EMTs, Emergency Response Team, ER Nurses, Doctors and Surgeons, and my loving family, I am here writing this message and heartfelt request to you.

You never know whose life you could be saving. There are total strangers, many heroes out there who provided me with the 9 units of blood and doses of human plasma derived albumin that I needed to stay alive after a traumatic cycling accident.

While competing in the Bicycle Leg of the Chicago Triathlon in 2014, I was struck, head-on, by another cyclist who had lost control of his bike. The impact of his bike and helmet were taken mostly on my left side, throwing me off my bike and into nearby concrete barriers and curbing.

I don’t remember much except the initial impact, going airborne, hitting the concrete, taking a deep breath, and passed out. It was lights out for a long while.

Two weeks later, I woke up in the intensive care unit of Northwestern Hospital. My sister from the east coast was sitting vigil with me while my wife, two adult children and other friends were taking a rest from their constant oversight of my care. I had endured a 10-hour emergency surgery to reinflate both lungs, reconstruction of my left ribcage, stoppage of much internal bleeding, and during that time, receiving the life-saving whole blood donations and plasma to replace what I had lost. I had survived because of generous donors like you.

Our daughter, who was working in California, organized a special blood drive, with many of her friends donating blood on my behalf, to backfill the lifesaving donations I had received. These generous donors, along with many others provide life-saving whole blood and human blood derived therapies that save and improve lives. Will you be the one to save a life? Will you be someone’s hero?

Click HERE to pledge

Each year PMI Phoenix judges support the Future City competition to Arizona Schools by providing guidance and feedback to the teams. During the competition, each team is given four requirements to complete before the project deadline to be eligible for the best project plan award. These requirements include creating Project Goals, Project Schedules, conducting Project Status Check-ins, and completing a Project Reflection.

This year, our volunteer judges at PMI Phoenix have determined that the award for the Best Project Plan is given to Team Blue M&M from Arizona Virtual Academy. Team Blue M&M excelled at completing the foundational elements of defining their goals for the project, showing excellent skills in forecasting their objectives, assigning team roles, acquiring resources, and providing fantastic project assumptions and risks.

Dennis Kinton, PMI Future City Director, (right) presents the Best Project Plan Award.

Schedules are a core component of any project. Team Blue M&M excelled in creating its project schedule by capturing tasks and critical milestones in an excellent Gantt Chart. Keeping a rigid task list of their remaining work and working as a team, Team Blue M&M was able to meet their Milestones and complete their project on time. One essential item that set Team Blue M&M apart was their thoroughness. Every requirement, task, and question was answered in length and in remarkable detail. All these items combined let the team do a fantastic job coming together to complete their original goals, earning them the best project plan award. Good job, team Blue M&M!

More articles about this year's competition are here:

PMI Phoenix Gives Back During Future City Competition 2023 Regional Finals – Arizona

PMI Phoenix Awards Future City Best Project Manager Award

This year's Best Project Manager award recipient was Natalie Robert from Highland Lakes.  Though the competition was fierce, Natalie appeared calm and confident. She indicated that the team wanted to learn how to work together "professionally" in going through the steps necessary to build a city. Natalie also candidly referred to challenges the team had with motivation and "burnout " toward the project's end. She further indicated that when this occurred, she took it upon herself to help the team regain their focus and remind them of what they wanted to achieve together.

Dennis Kinton, PMI Phoenix Future City Director, (right) award Natalie Robert (center) with the Best Project Plan Award.

When asked how the team kept organized, on time, and within budget, Natalie said using online tools like "office and zoom" were instrumental from a technical perspective to stay on track; however, finding motivation was a key factor for the completion of all phases. She felt making sure her teammates were still "happy with the work they were doing" was essential to get past setbacks. The example used was their challenge in cutting Styrofoam for the model. They found that many shapes cut were uneven and not to scale. So they had to cut them repeatedly. During these times, they needed to re-focus as a team and remember their original goals.

PMI Phoenix proudly presented Natalie Robert from Highland Lakes with the Best Project Manager award through professionalism, using project management methodologies and tools, and knowing how to keep her team focused and motivated. Good job, Natalie!

More articles about this year's competition:

PMI Phoenix Gives Back During Future City Competition 2023 Regional Finals – Arizona

PMI Phoenix Awards Future City Best Project Plan Award

PMI Phoenix is requesting judges to assist with the Elementary and Junior High Paradise Valley Science and Engineering Fair.   The Paradise Valley Elementary and Middle School Science and Engineering Fair (Jr. PVSEF) is quickly coming up. From a judging standpoint, you will be judging the process and you do not have to be an expert in a particular scientific or engineering area.  The students greatly benefit from interacting with professionals and adults which will better prepare them to continue to complete research projects and compete at the next level. PMI Phoenix and the Fair Committee is very appreciative of your efforts.

Details:

• The fair is in-person.
• It will be held on March 4, 2023, from 8:30 - 11:00 am.
• Judge orientation is from 8:00 - 8:30 am
• Each judge will be assigned 6-8 projects to judge.
• Project judging will be 10 minutes per project with 5 minutes between projects to finish digital judge forms (15 minutes/project).
• The awards ceremony will be virtual on Monday, March 5, 2023, at 5pm.
• Student awards will be sent to each school so teams can have their own school celebration.
• Winners of Jr. PVSEF move on to the state science and engineering fair (AZSEF) on March 30, 2023 (Projects must be registered by March 15, 2023)

Logistics

• Judges should sign up via the following link for PV Schools District Science Fair Judges Registration by filling out this Judge's registration form.  (The school is also asking that you please share this email or judge registration link with anyone else you think might be interested in being a judge.)
• List PMI Phoenix as the organization that you are representing (sixth field down on the form).
• Please send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to let him know that you are participating in this endeavor.
• Track the hours that you spend performing your feedback responsibilities.
• If you do have questions regarding this, please contact Steve Poessnecker (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or Pamela Fulk, STEM/CREST Coordinator for Paradise Valley Schools (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).