{"id":21815,"date":"2011-03-24T11:58:53","date_gmt":"2011-03-24T15:58:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=21815"},"modified":"2011-03-24T11:58:53","modified_gmt":"2011-03-24T15:58:53","slug":"500-fifth-graders-introduced-to-ucf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/500-fifth-graders-introduced-to-ucf\/","title":{"rendered":"500 Fifth-Graders Introduced to UCF"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

The students built structures out of marshmallows as they learned about high-tech careers at UCF's Achieve a College Education day.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fifth-graders covered their ears as they watched a hydrogen-filled balloon burst into flames and a can launch into the air with a loud explosion.<\/p>\n

The chemistry demonstration was part of the University of Central Florida\u2019s first-ever Achieve a College Education (ACE) program, which brought 500 local fifth-graders to campus for a day.<\/p>\n

ACE was designed and developed by UCF\u2019s Burnett Honors College in partnership with WORKFORCE Central Florida and Orange County Public Schools\u2019 Advancement via Individual Determination (AVID) program.<\/p>\n

The fifth-graders toured campus and attended a variety of hands-on learning sessions that introduced them to in-demand careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).\u00a0 Nearly 140 UCF students from the Burnett Honors College and LEAD Scholars helped the children learn throughout the day.<\/p>\n

The goal of the program was to inspire local elementary school students by showing them higher education opportunities that lie ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf students are exposed to college when they are younger, they are more likely to take an interest in going,\u201d explained UCF student volunteer Ashley Ewh.<\/p>\n

The fifth-graders learned how to identify real skulls of animals, such as a loggerhead sea turtle, horse and capybara, while learning about anatomy. \u00a0They passed around the different skulls and identified what each animal ate by feeling the skulls\u2019 teeth.<\/p>\n

In an engineering workshop, groups of students built structures using only toothpicks, gumdrops and marshmallows. The challenge was to build a structure that would hold a notepad.<\/p>\n

Fifth-grader Bryce Tolbert from Palmetto Elementary School high-fived Gabriele Rivera with an accomplished \u201cWe did it!\u201d as their Lego-inspired structure was judged the \u201cprettiest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHands-on projects are the most exciting and inspiring way for them to learn,\u201d Ewh said.<\/p>\n

Later in the day, industry leaders from Walt Disney Imagineering spoke to the fifth-graders about how the animatronic figures they see on rides are made. Representatives from Universal Studios talked about designing roller coasters and the environmental engineering and solar technology movements.<\/p>\n

The day\u2019s activities emphasized to the youngsters that college is within reach and showed them how the skills learned in college connect to real life.<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, UCF President John C. Hitt echoed that message as he shared some words of wisdom with the students.<\/p>\n

\u201cCollege is a place to learn about the world, and education is one of the keys to success in life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fifth-graders covered their ears as they watched a hydrogen-filled balloon burst into flames and a can launch into the air with a loud explosion. The chemistry demonstration was part of the University of Central Florida\u2019s first-ever Achieve a College Education (ACE) program, which brought 500 local fifth-graders to campus for a day. ACE was designed and developed by UCF\u2019s Burnett…","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":21862,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[650],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-21815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-burnett-honors-college"],"yoast_head":"\n500 Fifth-Graders Introduced to UCF | University of Central Florida News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fifth-graders covered their ears as they watched a hydrogen-filled balloon burst into flames and a can launch into the air with a loud explosion. 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