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Outreach Opportunity Alerts

Outreach Opportunity Alerts connect members of the Caltech community with educational outreach opportunities in the Pasadena community and beyond for which they can volunteer. They are published monthly. 

To join the newsletter mailing list for Outreach Opportunity Alerts, members of the Caltech community can sign up here: https://mailchi.mp/caltech/caltech-outreach-opportunity-alert-signup or email Kitty Cahalan, kcahalan@caltech.edu. Please give Kitty your name, email address, Caltech affiliation (undergraduate, graduate student, postdoc, faculty or staff) and department, option or research group. 

December 2024
The fall term of the 24-25 is already ending, but we are just getting started in the outreach office! November found us starting our Science Night season with events at Madison Elementary in Pasadena and Paradise Canyon Elementary in La Canada. We also hosted forty students from the Pasadena High School App Academy for a day of coding challenges, talks and campus tours, and we kicked off our new year for the Sustainable Energy Activity Lab (SEAL) high school research program. We know as the break approaches, many are looking forward to time with family or friends, and whether that takes you away from Pasadena or you're enjoying some time off right here, all of us in CTLO Outreach hope you have a restful break. 

STEM Ed&Outreach Club Workshop: Design A Science Night Activity
Have you thought it might be fun to bring a science, engineering or math activity to a science night, STEM event, or classroom, but you aren't sure what you'd do? Have you had ideas for an activity to present to K-12 learners, but aren't sure if it would work? 

CTLO and the STEM Ed and Outreach Club will present a Science Night Demo Workshop on Thursday, January 16, 2025 from 1-3 pm in the CTLO, Student Services Building (414 S. Holliston Ave) Suite 360. Learn what makes a great demonstration engage an audience; then design, test and present a demonstration of your own. CTLO will provide materials, or feel free to bring your own. 

Sign up for the workshop here: https://forms.gle/vpNJANuDvErRkGsP8STEM

Learning With Pasadena Public Libraries
Pasadena Public Libraries are seeking Caltech students for two opportunities at two different branches:

  • The Hastings Branch is seeking groups willing to do 1 hour sessions of hands-on STEM activities with kids ages 7-11. They are hoping for periodic engagement (monthly-ish) starting in February/March 2025. Depending on the volunteer interest, CTLO can arrange for one group/individual to go multiple times or help coordinate multiple groups/individuals to go one time each. If you'd like to participate (either once or on an ongoing basis), please contact Kitty Cahalan at kcahalan@caltech.edu. 
  • The La Pintoresca Library's long-time math tutor volunteer has retired from those duties. They are seeking anyone interested in working with elementary through high school students who come after school on a drop-in basis seeking help with math skills and homework. Interested parties should contact Annmarie Kolakowski at Akolakowski@cityofpasadena.net

Alumni Seminar Day
The Caltech Alumni Association is planning Seminar Day for Saturday, May 17, 2025. To assist attendees who want to bring younger children, CAA will be offering three hours of activities for kindergarten through 6th graders (up to 40 split into subgroups by age), and are looking for volunteers willing to host a few 45 minute sessions of engaging hands-on activities for young learners that morning. Classroom management and support will be provided for by the Caltech Children's Center to allow volunteers to focus on running the activities. CTLO Outreach can help select age-appropriate activities if desired. Interested volunteers should contact Kitty Cahalan, kcahalan@caltech.edu. 

Tutor Veterans at PCC
PCC is seeking volunteers who would like to tutor Veterans for mostly STEM topics. Most tutors work one-on-one with a student, though occasionally, two Veterans in the same class may choose to work together. Tutors generally meet with their students once a week for an hour or two, depending on the student's needs and the tutor's availability. As exams approach, additional sessions are sometimes arranged.

Veterans working with Caltech-based tutors usually come to the Caltech campus for their tutoring sessions. The program is highly flexible, with one primary goal: to help Veteran students regain or establish their academic footing.

One Veteran in particular is seeking help with a precalculus/trigonometry class. 

If interested in working with the math student or with other Veterans, please contact Joseph Amador, VRC Success Coach, at jamador2@pasadena.eduCTLO

Outreach Programs
We are always seeking volunteers for our ongoing programs! 

Visiting Scientists is a teaching program that provides an opportunity for graduate students and postdocs to hone their pedagogical skills in an elementary school setting while developing relationships with students in a specific grade at our partner school, Madison Elementary. We currently need people to join our 4th grade team, which meets at Madison on two Tuesdays per month from 10:20 am - 12:10 pm.

Contact Kitty Cahalan at kcahalan@caltech.edu if you're interested in joining or learning more. 

Science Nights are opportunities for volunteers to get off campus and out into the local community, where you can do fun, hands-on science activities or talk about your work with young students and families. Think of it like a pop-up science museum! No experience necessary. We can supply materials for you to use and help provide transportation and meals on event nights. Most events last about two to three hours and are within five miles of campus. There's no minimum number of events you must attend - sign up for as many/whichever events work for your schedule: https://www.volunteersignup.org/8M7FR

Check back frequently, as this signup list is updated with new events throughout the year!

Join the new STEM Education and Outreach Club! Contact club president Alexis Cho at adcho@caltech.edu or sign up here: https://tinyurl.com/OutreachClub

Lab Tours: We always welcome hearing from anyone who would host a short tour of their lab, or provide an activity on campus for groups of middle or high schoolers visiting campus. Host as often as works for you and your labmates. (We usually won't ask more than 2-4 times per year). Most tours will take about an hour of a tour host's time. Please contact Kitty Cahalan at kcahalan@caltech.edu if you're interested in hosting a tour in your lab or facility this year or next summer, and we'll contact you when groups request tours! 

If you're interested in outreach, or want to know more, fill out this form (https://tinyurl.com/CTLOOutreachForm, and we will contact you to talk about the programs we have, or discuss your ideas.

We Don't Just Do STEM Outreach!
We know that Caltech has people doing their studies and research in areas that are not considered STEM fields, and we'd love to have those of you this applies to do outreach, too! We also know all our students, staff and faculty have many other talents - are you an artist, photographer, writer, actor, dancer, athlete, musician? Do you have a hobby you'd like to share with people in our community? We can do outreach with that, too!

Please let Kitty Cahalan (kcahalan@caltech.edu) know if you're interested!

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Caltech Educational Outreach Office's programs run on volunteers! If you would like to join any of our programs, or if you have a program of your own that you'd like to bring to K-12 students, contact Kitty Cahalan, Assistant Director of Educational Outreach, at 626-395-2468 or kcahalan@caltech.edu.