SWOCC STEAM Pathways

Thank you Far West Lapidary Club Rock and Gem Show, Ko-Kwel Casino Resort and our awesome Geology & Paleontology Professor Win McLaughlin !

Southwestern Oregon Community College

Local folks - you're invited to a free talk, "Finger on the Pulse of Change? Lessons from the Coast Lines," by Dr. James Carlton, professor and director emeritus of Williams College-Mystic Seaport. His research focuses on the environmental history of coastal marine ecosystems, including invasions of non-native species, and he is teaching an OIMB weekend workshop on marine bioinvasions this summer. We're so happy that he offered to give a talk while he is in town!

WHEN: Wednesday, July 15 @ 7pm
WHERE: OIMB Boathouse Auditorium, Charleston

Admission is free and everyone is welcome. Hope to see you Wednesday!

(If you're planning to join us, please park on Boat Basin Road and walk to the Boathouse Auditorium. Thank you!)

Congratulations to Southwestern Oregon Community College Inventor team students Emmanuel Salinas and Jomar Molina who showcased their product idea TempReflex at the InventOR final last week at the OSU Cascades campus in Bend. They reported lots of great feedback from the judges and networking opportunities.

****2026 STEAM 8/10-13 (9-4) Academy is filling up fast!!
We have 6 spots left for our upcoming summer STEAM Academy Southwestern Oregon Community College
If you have a student grades 6th through 12th that loves science and learning, they will have a blast with us this summer.
Some of our activities will include:
- Programs with our chemistry, geology, physics/engineering, biology/ marine biology, and other faculty.
- Japanese tea pot art with our art department.
- Exploring the ambulance simulator with our EMT department.
- Programs with our nursing and digital design programs
- Field trip to the south slough
And much much more!
Snacks and lunch are provided each day, along with a water bottle. Students will also get a STEAM Academy t-shirt that they will design during the week with seaweed sun art and a drawstring backpack.
Registration is $50 but we do have scholarships available by request.
If you would like more information to register your student, feel free to email Cassie Coyner at [email protected] or call (541)888-7416.
Don't miss your chance for some fun summer science!!

****2026 STEAM 8/10-13 (9-4) Academy is filling up fast!!
We have 6 spots left for our upcoming summer STEAM Academy Southwestern Oregon Community College
If you have a student grades 6th through 12th that loves science and learning, they will have a blast with us this summer.
Some of our activities will include:
- Programs with our chemistry, geology, physics/engineering, biology/ marine biology, and other faculty.
- Japanese tea pot art with our art department.
- Exploring the ambulance simulator with our EMT department.
- Programs with our nursing and digital design programs
- Field trip to the south slough
And much much more!
Snacks and lunch are provided each day, along with a water bottle. Students will also get a STEAM Academy t-shirt that they will design during the week with seaweed sun art and a drawstring backpack.
Registration is $50 but we do have scholarships available by request.
If you would like more information to register your student, feel free to email Cassie Coyner at [email protected] or call (541)888-7416.
Don't miss your chance for some fun summer science!!

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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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