This semester at the 2015-2016 Student Organization Awards & Recognition (SOAR) Ceremony, Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) Club took home the award for Outstanding FSO K-12 Program. The club’s work with middle school and high school students in the Superior school district made them the perfect fit for this award.
MAV Club president and founder Michael Thompson began the Mechanical Flapping Bird Outreach Program with his own money, and the program has quickly grown with support from the NASA Space Grant. It is a six-Saturday series of 4-hour sessions in which students from the Superior school district are bused to ASU where Michael and his team help them build mechanical flapping birds to teach them about basic principles of mechanics and engineering.
Since it’s start, the program is estimated to have hosted more than 160 Superior students. It has been successful in inspiring younger generations to become interested and involved in engineering. In addition to its devotion to K-12 students, MAV’s outreach program has drawn attention to Fulton and brought Fulton organizations closer together through its collaboration with the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers.
The Mechanical Flapping Bird Outreach Program continues to be successful, and MAV Club hopes to carry it into future semesters to continue to inspire the kids of Superior.
Thanks for inspiring the next generation of Sun Devils, MAV Club. Here’s to another great year!