NCEA

Saint Ambrose School won the Catholic Identity Award for Innovation with The Homeless Project! Today’s Catholic Teacher magazine commented that it was an honor to judge our work!

 

The Homeless Project

The Homeless Project was a school-wide collaborative initiative for grades K-8 with Saint Ambrose School and The Ohio STEM Impact Network (SAS educators and community partners). This innovative project consisted of app development and prototyping through makerspaces to create real world solutions for those in need during Mrs. Lori Schlueter’s computer science class.

App Development

A small group of HSP students developed and tested The Homeless Mission Operators App. This app helps mission operators manage food, clothing, and housing resources for those in need. Special thanks to Mrs. Kelley Marvin for her volunteer work helping to organize the food network that the Homeless Mission Operators App utilizes! 

Special thanks to Donut Land for their weekly food donations that feed the homeless living under bridges and in safe havens.

Congratulations to students Emily, Tori, Camryn, Michael, and Alex for their national award winning app! Students used geospatial technology to develop and test feature layers that could be updated in the field by using GPS coordinates. These layers allow mission operators to add data or locations according to homeless needs.

Prototyping

Students participated in makerspaces where they began to brainstorm using wooden sticks, material, cardboard, and glue. Makerspaces are not supposed to look “pretty”, but it is a collaborative and energetic environment for students to brainstorm, experiment, and learn together through innovation.

Materials Testing

Students tested various cloth materials, space blankets, and trash bags to confirm which entity held the most heat during Mrs. Laurie Hamzik’s science class. Students concluded that space blankets wrapped in cloth material sustained the heat the longest compared to other material testing.

 

Phase I

Students participated in the Phase I makerspace below during Mrs. Lori Schlueter’s computer science class. They were prototyping solutions for portable housing, food storage, sleeping gear, and clothing!

 

 

Phase II

Students developed products from the Phase I prototypes that were chosen to expand upon in Phase II, during computer science class. They created “life blankets” and pillows developed from the results of materials testing. Special thanks to Miss Valerie for her volunteer work with our computer science class! She also managed the sewing centers to have students help sew blankets and pillows.

Product Testing

Students completed product testing outdoors in 30 degree weather and concluded that “life blankets” consistently held a temperature of 60 to 70 degrees!

Cards for the Homeless

During Mrs. Julia Kinley’s art class, students created cards for the homeless. Our homeless mission partner explained how these cards were so important for the homeless, as they often do not get any attention from anyone. The cards were truly a blessing. Thank you Mrs. Kinley for your compassion and eagerness to always help!

Product Distribution and App Launch

Special guest, Mr. Ed Plaspohl, visited our computer science class so that he could distribute our products through the Labre Homeless Mission. He also received the Homeless Mission Operators app in February to begin pilot testing. Thank you to Mr. Ed Plaspohl, the Labre Homeless Mission, and students from Walsh Jesuit and St. Ignatius for distributing our products to the homeless.

The Homeless Mission

Life blankets and pillows were distributed to the homeless that live under bridges and in safe havens through the Labre Homeless Mission. The NCEA award is really about people like “Tom” that did not have a pillow or blanket, but was only sleeping in a tent. St. Ambrose students were able to see first hand how a messy makerspace, materials testing, hard work, and compassion could turn into a real world solution that could help those in need.

NCEA Awards

Special thanks to Mrs. Sheri Ricciardi, Mrs. Lisa Cinadr, Mrs. Lori Schlueter, and Mrs. Amy Morgan for attending and representing St. Ambrose School at the NCEA Awards! Thank you to Mrs. Sheri Ricciardi for being part of the School Board Strategic Planning that supports and initiated the STEM/Coding Programs. Thank you to Father Bob and Mrs. Lisa Cinadr for their STEM/Coding support. Thank you to Mrs. Amy Morgan for her technical assistance at NCEA, where she took photos and videos of the NCEA Awards and instantly provided updates for SAS!

And, THANK YOU to Mrs. Lori Schlueter for her dedication and innovative STEM/Coding instruction!

They were also able to visit the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis!