Lucido, Rhea conducting science camp in Saipan

lucido rhea
Lucido Rhea

Dr. Patricia Lucido, professor of science education, is the latest member of the Northwest faculty to visit the Ladera International School of Saipan.

Lucido is currently wrapping up a two-week residency at LISS, where she is conducting the first part of the school’s winter science camp.

Dr. Marilyn Rhea, director of Northwest’s Promoting Reasoning and Inquiry in Science and Math (PRISM) program, will lead the camp’s final four weeks and is scheduled to fly to Saipan this weekend.

More than 20 LISS students in the third through ninth grades are taking part in the camp, which is offered twice a year. LISS is a private school located in the Pacific island capital of the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas and serving students through the 10th grade.

Last year, the institution entered into an exclusive relationship with the Missouri Academy of Science Mathematics and Computing and agreed to help recruit prospects interested in the Academy's two-year residential program for gifted high school-age students.

The arrangement has already led to the first international contingent in Academy history, a group of 12 students from Korea now in their second semester of study.

Lucido and Rhea represent the latest in a series of visits by Northwest faculty to Ladera. Dr. Max Ruhl, dean of the College of Education and Human Services, and Dr. Barbara Crossland, chair of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, traveled to Saipan in December for talks focusing on teacher education and “edu-tourism.”

While on the island, the pair met with LISS President Yong Nam Park, Northern Marianas Lt. Gov. Timothy Villagomez and Perry Tenorio, managing director of the Marianas Visitors Authority.

In November, Missouri Academy Dean Cleo Samudzi undertook a similar mission to discuss opportunities available at Northwest to high-achieving students from across the Far East. That trip included a meeting with both Park and Northern Marianas Gov. Benigno Fitial.

Also, in summer, 2007, Dr. Francie Christopher, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction, conducted a 10-day training and assessment session at Ladera with two in-service teachers from Kansas City. The teachers, Brit Viertel Kelly and Heather Macintosh, were completing a practicum required for the Missouri Teachers of English Language Learners Certificate.

For more information, please contact:

Anthony Brown,
News Bureau Manager
E-Mail: abrown@nwmissouri.edu
Phone: 660.562.1704
Fax: 660.562.1900

Northwest Missouri State University
219 Administration Building,
800 University Drive
Maryville, MO 64468

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