April 21, 2020
DES program provides access to students with BVI
Olivia Holt, right, was a participant in this year’s DES program and won the regional North Carolina science fair. She’s pictured with Dr. Rhea Miles, the DES program director.
Earlier this academic year, the Discoveries in Earth Science (DES) program held its first science fair and one of the participants entered in and won the regional science fair.
The DES program aims to make learning earth science accessible to visually impaired and blind students. In order to do this, the program has several goals: increasing competency in science for students with blindness or visual impairment (BVI), developing participants’ skills to independently conduct earth science activities, assisting participants with analyzing scientific data, and preparing participants for the scientific workforce.
During this year’s program, Brysen Smith, a third-grade student at W.H. Robinson Elementary School; Kashmere McDowel, an eighth-grade student at W.A. Patillo Middle School; and Olivia Holt, a tenth-grade student at D.H. Conley High School participated in the program’s first science fair. This experience enabled Olivia to enter the regional North Carolina Science & Engineering Fair and place first in the senior Earth/environment category and go on to participate in the state-level science competition.
The program directors are appreciative of everyone who served as judges and to all of the faculty and staff members in the College of Education and the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences who attended the DES science fair. This includes Dr. Rhea Miles, director and principal investigator (PI); Dr. Alana Zambone, COE associate dean and co-PI; and Ray Mock. The judges were Dr. Elizabeth Doster, Hannah Lawson, Skylar Thomas, Isaiah Gorham, Dae Anthony Streeter, Emily Thefaine, Grant Tiger, and Kyra Miles.
Dr. Rhea Miles sent a special thanks to Tyler Palocheck and Felicia Edwards, graduate assistants for the program; Dr. Margaret Blome from the Department of Geological Sciences; Dr. Alex Manda, associate professor in the Department of Geological Sciences and co-PI of the DES program; and Gloria and Grace Jinks, program volunteers.
Unless further COVID-19 guidance is released by the UNC system and East Carolina University, the program plans to begin their 2020-21 session this summer. It is currently seeking students to participate in the 2020-21 session, along with staff for the 2020 summer camp. Anyone interested should contact the program director:
Rhea Miles, PhD
Associate Professor Science Education
East Carolina University
Phone: (252) 328-9366
Fax: (252) 328-9371
Email: milesr@ecu.edu
Office: 313 Flanagan Building
The DES program is sponsored by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund.
Olivia Holt, a DES participant, presents her science fair project looking at tap and bottled water compared with local stream water.