SWOCC STEAM Pathways

We had a wonderful end of year SPEAR lunchon yesterday Southwestern Oregon Community College and also celebrated our graduates! We enjoyed homemade BBQ pulled pork, homemade mac and cheese, chips, and even had a awesome cupcake cake for our graduates. We got our bulletin board updated with the graduates that gave us some information about their time at SWOCC and where they might be headed in their uture next steps. Thanks to all who have supported our students along the way!

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*** Want to support student learning and research?! Well here is your chance!******
SWOCC STEAM Pathways is officially in our spot aboard Mission 22 set to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in spring of 2027. We will have a team of students sending up a project they created to be actually tested on the international space station!
This is part of the Student Space Flight Experimental Program (SSEP).
How can you help?!
We are $5,500 away from the goal we need to raise in order to support our schools portion of the mission. Any amount will help!
If you would like to support our students you can go to www.socc.edu/give
You select science project and then put SSEP in the memo.
We appreciate all of our community support! This is an exciting opportunity for our students and community!

Donate to Education | SWOCC Foundation When you donate to education, your gift helps provide the highest quality educational programs and services for our students.

***Exciting News!!!***

SWOCC to join International Space Station Project
What if a team of students from the south Oregon coast were able to design an experiment for the International Space Station? Well, we have that opportunity. SWOCC plans to participate in Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) Mission 22. It’s a nationwide research project that has invited select colleges to send student designed experiments to the ISS.
The program is expected to engage up to 60 SWOCC students in its first year alone. These students will be from a wide range of backgrounds, from dual-enrolled local high school students to adults returning for career training.
For students in our small communities, experiences like this are life changing. They build technical skills, confidence, and a sense of belonging in science and technology fields. SWOCC’s participation will have other ripple effects as well. Our STEAM instructors plan classroom visits, public presentations, and a regional mission patch design contest involving middle-school students. They want to share the work and inspire the next generation of scientists and problem solvers.
Beginning in fall 2026, students will work in small teams guided by SWOCC physics professor Dr. Aaron Coyner. Their challenge will be to design microgravity experiments and submit them to a rigorous review process. Three proposals will advance to national review, and one student designed experiment will launch to the ISS in spring 2027.

How you can donate:
1. Go to www.socc.edu/give
2. On the page select “health and science project”
3. In the box provided type “SSEP”
We greatly appreciate all of the support and look forward to this project as we move forward!

Donate to Education | SWOCC Foundation When you donate to education, your gift helps provide the highest quality educational programs and services for our students.

On Saturday, May 23rd, SWOCC STEAM Pathways welcomed 11 students combined from Marshfield Jr high school and North Bend Middle School trio programs to enjoy a day camp here on campus with us. The students enjoyed 2 planetarium shows! Which they were totally excited about. Dr. Coyner also led them in an activity where they were abel to build and test air cars! Then Cassie and Abi enjoyed some craft time with the students while making CD saturns and comets on a stick! And then of course pizza! :) Everyone seemed to have a such a great time. We are hping to do more of these type of activities this upcoming year!

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***Want to get on our 2026-2027 calendar for an event?! We offer many different educational options for all ages! We can do:
- Customized campus field trip for your group (public school, private school, homeschool group, etc.)
- Portable planetarium
- Help you create an awesome family STEAM night
And much much more!
We want to promote science in our communities, as it is a cruicial part in our lives.
If you would like to discuss planning an event feel free to reach out to Cassie Coyner by email at [email protected] or by phone at (541)888-7416. Our calendar does fill up early so get your group on our list!

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Excited for a day camp with students in the trio program from North Bend and Coos Bay middle schools this Saturday! Students will get a planetarium show! Then do some crafts with Cassie and Abi making comets on a stick and CD Saturns! We are also goign to do solar scopes and air cars with physics and astronomy. Hoping the weather cooperates for a fun day!

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Happening Now!

We had a great time on Friday, May 8th spending the school day with the 6th graders at North Bend Middle School! They enjoyed a planetarium show about the birth of our solar system. They are already on our calendar for next school year and we are hping to be able to visit the 7th and 8th graders as well. :) Everyone was so awesome and well behaved! Love doing these types of events and see the excitement on the faces of all the students!

Send a message to learn more

SWOCC to join International Space Station Project
What if a team of students from the south Oregon coast were able to design an experiment for the International Space Station? Well, we have that opportunity. SWOCC plans to participate in Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) Mission 22. It’s a nationwide research project that has invited select colleges to send student‑designed experiments to the ISS.
The program is expected to engage up to 60 SWOCC students in its first year alone. These students will be from a wide range of backgrounds, from dual-enrolled local high school students to adults returning for career training.
For students in our small communities, experiences like this are life‑changing. They build technical skills, confidence, and a sense of belonging in science and technology fields. SWOCC’s participation will have other ripple effects as well. Our STEAM instructors plan classroom visits, public presentations, and a regional mission patch design contest involving middle-school students. They want to share the work and inspire the next generation of scientists and problem‑solvers.
Beginning in fall 2026, students will work in small teams guided by SWOCC physics professor Dr. Aaron Coyner. Their challenge will be to design microgravity experiments and submit them to a rigorous review process. Three proposals will advance to national review, and one student‑designed experiment will launch to the ISS in spring 2027.

Oregon NASA Space Grant Consortium Student Ambassador, SPEAR Student Researcher, and Chemistry Student Sabrina Pingree organized our very first SWOCC STEAM Pathways Science Fair! We had 5 students sign up to participate from Sunset School in Coos Bay, Kingsview Christian in North Bend, Homeschool, Harbor Lights in Bandon, and Winter Lakes in Coquille. Three students showed up today and we had one exceptional junior competitor who attends homeschool that entered a Microbiology project and two amazing middle school students in our upper division, one with a Physics project and one with an Engineering Project. Students receive certificates and prizes. Great job to all of the students and we hope to see you back next year! Thank you to our volunteer judges, OSGC, our SWOCC Media Team, and the rest of the team at the college!

Southwestern Oregon Community College