Helping students keep pace with the future
Program aims to keep U.S. competitive in science, hi-tech
BY CHRISTINE VARNO
Staff Writer

Clockwise from top, Max Kuciej, a seventh grader at Forrestdale School in Rumson, is touching a Van De Graff generator that creates static electricity and makes his hair stand up. Alexis Holiday, a seventh-grader at the Red Bank Charter School, in the course "How Things Work." Joey Moure, seventh-grader at Long Branch Middle School, works on his chocolate bar in the design course "Ideas at the Speed of Life."

With advances in technology evolving each day, a retired Rumson couple set out to find a way to prepare today's gifted students for the challenges of the real world of the future.

"It became very clear to us that something had to be done here in the United States to maintain our lead in technology," said Stephen Chappell, who, with his wife, Margaret Ann, founded the "Stars Challenge" science enrichment education program almost two years ago as a way to keep kids involved and interested in science.

"Computers, Internet, communications," said Steve Chappell in a recent interview, "are the things that create the jobs.

"We want to get kids excited about this and keep them in science."

In 2006, the Chappells, both retired engineers, started the education program at Monmouth University in West Long Branch to teach science enrichment courses to middle school students.

Steve Chappell explained that the goal of the program is to get more students involved in science and technology and ultimately maintain America's historical lead in technology and innovation.

The program is offered to sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students who rank at the top of their math and science classes, he explained, adding that although most of the students are local, there are no residency requirements.

"We have no restrictions," he said. "If a student wants to commute from California, we would be happy to have them."

The program offers a variety of science courses during a winter and fall semester that runs for 10 weeks, with each class meeting for two hours in the evening once a week.

Approximately four to five classes are offered each semester, and although students can enroll in more than one class, Chappell said since the program's inception, students have only taken a single class a semester.

"We are not in education," Chappell said, speaking about him and his wife. "We recognize that we cannot teach. We hire really good teachers and tell them that this is a hands-on learning class."

A typical class includes 20 to 30 minutes of discussion followed by an hour and a half of hands-on work.

Classes focus on real-world problems where students can work in small groups to create innovative solutions, according to Chappell.

"The students are taught something in the beginning of the class and then told to go do something with what they learned," said Chappell, who attends each class with his wife.

"The students' job is to create some sort of solution to a problem that was posed," he said. "That is exactly what they will have to do later in life when they get a job."

Classes include experimental design, environmental courses, physics, forensics, design courses, astronomy, how things work and robotics.

The class most requested by the students is the forensics course, Chappell said, explaining that the class could be compared to episodes of CSI. It is aimed to provide students an opportunity to build investigative skills, he said.

In one of the design classes, Chappell said, one project required students to design their own chocolate bars.

"They had to decide what ingredients they wanted in it, such as marshmallows, nuts, potato chips, whatever," he said. "Then they had to decide on a shape, come up with wrappers and come up with marketing ideas.

"One student designed a pyramid-shaped chocolate bar with white on top if it," he continued. "They loved this."

The program attracts some 50 students a semester from West Long Branch, Long Branch, Red Bank, Oceanport, Monmouth Beach, Shrewsbury, Rumson and Colts Neck, according to Chappell.

One example of the program's success is the recent recognition several students in the program received for projects developed in one of the classes.

Eight students from the experimental design course took experiments they made in class to the Jersey Shore Science Fair.

One experiment included a student trying to see if he could condition a koi fish to eat when it heard a specific sound, Chappell explained.

Four of the students won ribbons at the fair and three of those four students went on to the next stage of competition at the Delaware Science Fair.

The three students all won awards at the Delaware Science Fair, Chappell said.

"Stars Challenge" wrapped up its third semester at Monmouth University in April. Also this winter it completed its first semester at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

"In the future, we would love to expand to more colleges," he said.

Tuition for each class is $500 and Chappell said that he and his wife do not get any money from the program.

"We pay the teachers," he said. "And if there is a shortfall, we will fund it."

The idea for the program came to the Chappells in 2005 when they were reading Thomas Friedman's book "The World is Flat."

"It became clear to us that we had to do something," he said. "When we read the book, it scared us to death."

He explained that the book discusses how in the United States, people compete only with the United States, but that with the Internet and high-speed connections, competition extends throughout the entire world.

"The number of people we used to be competing with was less than 1 billion, with some 300 million in the United States and another 300 million in Europe, Chappell said.

"But now there are 1.6 billion in China, 1.1 billion in India and several hundred thousand in the old Soviet Union."

After reading the book in the spring of 2005, the Chappells went to China the following summer.

"What the book had put in our heads, seeing it in China put it in our stomachs," he said. "We knew we needed to do something in the United States to help keep us up to speed on some level."

Sometime after their trip to China, Margaret Ann told her husband that she knew of several education programs for students who fall behind in the learning process.

She then asked, "What if we do something for the smart kids?" her husband recalled.

That idea was turned into a reality with the "Stars Challenge" program.

"We reached out to Monmouth University with the idea, mainly because it was so close to us," Chappell said. "And they were very supportive of the idea. We received approval right away."

Chappell said spending their retirement involved in the program is exactly what he and his wife want to do.

"We both believe strongly in education," he said.

"We have been fortunate in our lives, and yeah, we could be playing golf or retire down to Florida, but we both think this has to be done. So we are doing it."

For more information on the Stars Challenge, visit www.starschallenge.org.