OSU's Saturday Academy enters its 21st year
Campus opens to high school, middle school students seeking pre-college experience
Jon Hallquist
Issue date: 10/3/06 Section: News
OSU's Saturday Academy has just entered its 21st year as registration has been open since the second week of September.
Students from fifth-grade through 12th-grade are invited to join an education-based program that covers science, math and technology.
Saturday Academy is a non-profit organization that is hosted by the College of Engineering and the College of Science at OSU.
It features small classes that are run mostly during a single Saturday morning during October or November.
According to Nancy Wortman, director of Saturday Academy, fees vary accordingly to the length of the class.
She said the minimum tuition for a two to three hour class is usually $25.
Tuition is higher depending on the cost of supplies and materials for any given class and the number of sessions and hours that the class meets.
The tuition helps pay for instructors, materials and the cost of running the program. Tuition only covers 20 percent of the cost of the program as it is only partially supported by the university.
Wortman said she must raise funds and write grants to gain enough money to cover expenses of running the program.
"Funding continues to be a challenge year after year," Wortman said.
About 650 students are expected to take part in this year's Academy, a number the Academy has come to expect over the last couple of years.
High school students will have seven classes to choose from while middle school students will have nine classes from which to choose.
"We keep the class size small and offer lots of hands-on activities to offer an experience that is different than what the public school system can provide," Wortman said.
Saturday Academy has also won three awards, including the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics & Engineering Mentoring, awarded by former President Bill Clinton in 1996.
Along with that, the academy won the For Kids' Sake Award in 1996, given by Oregon's KPTV in Portland and The Green Heron Award in 1999, given by the Tualitin Riverkeepers.
Saturday Academy is one of many pre-college programs available through OSU.
More information about registration, course descriptions, fees, class dates, locations and donation information can be found on the Web at http://academy.engr.oregonstate.edu, or by calling 541-737-8139.
Students from fifth-grade through 12th-grade are invited to join an education-based program that covers science, math and technology.
Saturday Academy is a non-profit organization that is hosted by the College of Engineering and the College of Science at OSU.
It features small classes that are run mostly during a single Saturday morning during October or November.
According to Nancy Wortman, director of Saturday Academy, fees vary accordingly to the length of the class.
She said the minimum tuition for a two to three hour class is usually $25.
Tuition is higher depending on the cost of supplies and materials for any given class and the number of sessions and hours that the class meets.
The tuition helps pay for instructors, materials and the cost of running the program. Tuition only covers 20 percent of the cost of the program as it is only partially supported by the university.
Wortman said she must raise funds and write grants to gain enough money to cover expenses of running the program.
"Funding continues to be a challenge year after year," Wortman said.
About 650 students are expected to take part in this year's Academy, a number the Academy has come to expect over the last couple of years.
High school students will have seven classes to choose from while middle school students will have nine classes from which to choose.
"We keep the class size small and offer lots of hands-on activities to offer an experience that is different than what the public school system can provide," Wortman said.
Saturday Academy has also won three awards, including the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics & Engineering Mentoring, awarded by former President Bill Clinton in 1996.
Along with that, the academy won the For Kids' Sake Award in 1996, given by Oregon's KPTV in Portland and The Green Heron Award in 1999, given by the Tualitin Riverkeepers.
Saturday Academy is one of many pre-college programs available through OSU.
More information about registration, course descriptions, fees, class dates, locations and donation information can be found on the Web at http://academy.engr.oregonstate.edu, or by calling 541-737-8139.
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