[046] Girls’ Sept. 26 math, science event at MTSU features dog trainers, adult activities

MURFREESBORO — Two women who train dogs for competitions and a special activity for up to 30 adults will be featured during the 19^th 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 bring Green’s German shepherd, Hershey, Wade’s shepherds Nike, Berlin and possibly Panzer and Firecracker, a dog trained by both women, to highlight the event for middle school and high school girls.

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 sixth- through 12^th-graders 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, as event organizers added 25 more slots for the older girls.

To register, go to http://www.mtsu.edu/wistem/eyh/index.php 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, with Wade competing in world events.

Green shared on the topic “The Nose Knows” during EYH 2014 and said their presentation will be an extension. She said they present at a Read to Succeed program where they go into schools and the children read to the dogs.

Wade has worked with at least one family, using her dog to detect diabetic seizures, and also trained dogs to detect a bomb.

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.