Girls’ STEM event features dog trainers, activity for parents [+VIDEO]

Two women who train dogs for competitions, plus a special activity for up to 30 adults, will be featured during the 19th annual Expanding Your Horizons in math and science event for girls Saturday, Sept. 26, at MTSU.

Krista Wade with Happy Valley Kennels in Bell Buckle, Tennessee, and Kathy Green, an executive aide in the MTSU Department of Chemistry, will highlight the event for middle school and high school girls.

The pair plans to bring Green’s German shepherd, Hershey; Wade’s shepherds Nike, Berlin and possibly Panzer; and Firecracker, a dog they train together, to this year’s EYH.

MTSU chemistry executive aide Kathy Green works with her German shepherd, Hershey. She and Krista Wade will be featured presenters at the Sept. 27 Expanding Your Horizons at MTSU. (Photo by Hope Enmore)

For adults, Debbie Frisby, a new Homer Pittard Campus School teacher, will offer “InventionX” as a challenging educational tool to guide children through real-world application of science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM.

InventionX is applied STEM, where students in grades six through 12 compete for awards and recognition as the next great inventors.

Expanding Your Horizons is a hands-on math and science event to help girls consider careers in these fields as well as engineering and technology.

EYH gives girls opportunities to talk with women in STEM and attend this type of conference with other girls.

Openings remain in registration for both girls in middle school and high school. Event organizers recently added 25 more slots for the older girls.

To register, go to www.mtsu.edu/wistem/eyh and click on “Registration.” A link for the parent or guardian release form is included on the registration page.

Wade and Green have trained together for 10 years. They and their dogs compete nationally, and Wade also competes in international events.

Debbie Frisby

Green discussed the topic “The Nose Knows” during EYH 2014 and said this year’s presentation will be an extension of that conversation.

The pair also makes presentations through the local Read to Succeed program, where they go into schools and children read to their dogs.

Wade and one of her dogs has worked with at least one family to detect and divert diabetic seizures. She’s also trained dogs to detect bombs.

Frisby, who teaches fifth graders, attended InventionX training in July.

“Through hands-on, problem-based learning activities, the EYH adult workshop will help parents understand the InventionX five-step framework,” she said.

“Using InventionX, they can better guide their children through real-world application of STEM knowledge while increasing their critical thinking skills and longterm engagement in the STEM fields.”

For more information about Expanding Your Horizons, call 615-904-8253 or email eyh@mtsu.edu.

— Randy Weiler (Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu)