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02 February 2015
Light BLOX motivates Students at Local NGO
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: OSA Media Relations
Light BLOX motivates Middle School Students
OSA Foundation sponsors local STEM education
OSA at FLOC
WASHINGTON, Feb. 02, 2015—The OSA Foundation commenced the Optical Society’s (OSA) 2015 Winter Leadership Meeting with International Year of Light Education Kit demonstrations at a local Washington, DC NGO this weekend. OSA volunteer leaders introduced the Light BLOX kit to a classroom of 50 For the Love of Children (FLOC) students. Each student in attendance was given his or her own kit to take home.
Light BLOX provides students with hands on activities that introduce them to the science of light, and over 1,200 kits have been distributed to date. Containing high tech LED light sources, a set of frosted lenses, a diffraction grating, and more, the experiment kit helps teach young innovators how to bend, bounce, and blend light. This program is estimated to have impacted a total of 30,000 students thus far! You can help support your community by donating a kit at www.osa.org/IYLKit.
“The Light BLOX Education Kit does a marvelous job at introducing the properties of light to children in addition to igniting their interest in science overall,” said OSA Foundation Chair Alexander A. Sawchuk.
NASA and the Italian National Research Center (INRC) supported this program by sending speakers to work with the students. OSA National Capital Local Section members, Margaret Dominquez (NASA) and Kevin Miller (NASA), along with the 2015 Young Professional Award recipient, Antigone Marino (INRC), spoke to the students about their diverse science backgrounds and how their love of science first began.
Student quotes from the event:
- "This was so much fun. I didn't know you could study light."
- "This was the best science class I have ever been too."
- "When I grow up I want to be an engineer."
- "Can I take this kit home? I want to show it my friends."
For Love of Children (FLOC) provides services free of charge to low-income families in the District of Columbia and West Virginia. Since 1965, they have served more than 10,000 children in the classroom and beyond. Today, roughly 25 staff and 300 volunteers serve nearly 600 students from first grade through college and career per year in local schools.
About The OSA Foundation
The OSA Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit foundation established by The Optical Society (OSA) in 2002 to carry out charitable activities that support OSA’s mission of promoting the generation, application, archiving and worldwide dissemination of knowledge in optics and photonics. The foundation helps cultivate the next generation of leaders and innovators in the optics and photonics community as they move through advanced degree programs and become active members of research and engineering communities around the globe. To date, The OSA Foundation has awarded more than 800 grants, scholarships, and prizes benefiting thousands of individuals in more than 55 countries. For more information, visit www.osa.org/foundation.
About OSA
Founded in 1916, The Optical Society (OSA) is the leading professional organization for scientists, engineers, students and entrepreneurs who fuel discoveries, shape real-life applications and accelerate achievements in the science of light. Through world-renowned publications, meetings and membership initiatives, OSA provides quality research, inspired interactions and dedicated resources for its extensive global network of optics and photonics experts. OSA is a founding partner of the National Photonics Initiative and the 2015 International Year of Light. For more information, visit www.osa.org.
