MESA SERVICES
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DESCRIPTION
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MESA Schedule
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Time designated for MESA instruction during the regular school day, typically an Exploratory Period or Zero Period for middle schools, and integration into an existing science class or after-school club for high schools.
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Parent and Student Program Orientation at UCR
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The purpose of the program orientation is to offer parents and students an overview of program plans, benefits, and requirements. Parent and student workshops are included in the event to encourage and garner a higher level of parent and student commitment to the program.
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MESA Hands-on Projects
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MESA students build projects such as balsawood bridges and gliders, mousetrap cars, water bottled rockets, web-pages, cardboard boats, etc. While building the projects students begin to inquire about and discover the underlying math and science. MESA provides MESA teachers with enrichment curriculum and supplies to support the implementation of MESA projects. All of UCR MESA’s curriculum is aligned to California math and science content standards.
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MESA Day Project Competitions
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At the MESA Day Preliminary Competitions MESA students visit UCR to compete against students from other local schools, gain college exposure, and demonstrate math and science knowledge. Students that place in the UCR MESA Day Preliminary Competitions move on to compete in the MESA Day Regional Competitions against students from schools in the general southern California area.
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Academic Excellence Workshops (AEWs)
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AEWs are math-based group learning activities designed to strengthen and advance core math knowledge. MESA students work in teams to solve challenging math problems. Real world application of math and science are integrated into the math problems.
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Academic Guidance
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MESA staff members work with school Counselors to support MESA students in their pursuit of college admissions. MESA strives to develop a college preparation plan for every MESA student. The college preparation plan is used to guide academic development as well as document and monitor academic performance.
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MESA Facilitator
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MESA facilitators are UCR college students with strong math and science backgrounds. MESA facilitators support MESA teachers in the implementation of MESA services, serving as mentors, workshop facilitators and teaching assistants for MESA students.
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Year-End Competitions
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The Year-end Competitions are designed to excite students about math and science while simultaneously introducing students to the engineering design process. The featured competitions are Water-bottle Rockets, Cardboard Boats, and College-poster Board competitions. Monetary prizes are awarded to teams placing 1st, 2nd and 3rd in each event.
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Parent Services
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Parent services include: the program orientation and parent workshops at local schools. The parent workshops provide parents with valuable “preparing for college” information and feedback on their child’s progress toward fulfilling the MESA college preparation plan.
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College and Career Exploration
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MESA offers students exposure to colleges/universities, college majors, careers, and career professionals. Students visit universities and industry locations to receive tours and presentations.
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Incentives
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Incentives such as fieldtrips, monetary prizes, awards, etc. are offered to encourage parent and student involvement in the program. The incentives are connected to standard benchmarks for participation in the program. The incentives and benchmarks are clearly documented in the program handbook, and communicated to parents and students at the program orientation.
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