Thank you Dr. David McCuan

The SPARQ Center at PHS thanks Dr. David McCuan for his presentation at the December 4th STEM Cafe. Dr. McCuan is a professor at Sonoma State University. He is an expert in both international and national politics, international security and terrorism, state and local politics, campaigns and elections, and political behavior. Just as he did in May he gave a very interesting talk about the science behind the recent presidential election as well as providing insight into the current political landscape.

Thank You Dr. Kasey Schalich

The SPARQ Center at PHS thanks Dr. Kasey Schalich, Ph.D. for her presentation this week - “My career journey: from Piner High School to becoming a food gut microbiota interactions researcher.” She works in the Department of Food Science & Technology at UC Davis. After her presentation she shared drinks and dark chocolates containing fiber (good for our micro biomes) for the attendees to try. What was your favorite?

Kevin Le is the SPARQ Center at Piner Board 2024-2025 Student Representative.

Please join the SPARQ Center at Piner Board in welcoming Kevin Le as our 2024-2025 Student Representative. He is a junior and the salutatorian of the class of 2026. At Piner, Kevin is actively involved as President of both the School Site Council and the California Scholarship Federation. He is also part of the Early College Magnet Program, where he has earned 38 college credits. Kevin became a STEM prospect as a sophomore, participated in the High-Powered Rocketry Group, and has a strong interest in engineering. In his free time, he helps his parents at Lee’s Noodle House and volunteers with a tutoring non-profit organization.

Welcome to the 2024-2025 school year!

Welcome to the 2024-2025 school year! The SPARQ Center at Piner High has lots of great things planned this year. Watch this space or follow us on Instagram, Facebook and X/Twitter.

  • The STEM Cafe and Digital Planetarium schedules are posted on the Events page

  • We hope to highlight more student projects as the year progresses. If you haven’t seen the 2023-2024 projects go to the Student Projects & Research page.

  • Many field trips are planned for Piner STEM students including Safari West, Armstrong Woods, Cal Academy of Science, and the Exploratorium.

  • Elementary visits to the Center were fully booked within 36 hours. We expect to welcome over 800 students from across Sonoma County for a visit. They will get to experience SPARQ Planetarium presentations and STEM station activities. Teachers will go back to their classrooms with science supplies and curriculum.

We would like to welcome Kevin Lee as the 2024-2025 SPARQ Foundation Board Student Representative!

2024 Solar Eclipse

On the morning of April 8 Piner High School students and staff witnessed a partial solar eclipse. It was only 32% in Santa Rosa but Mr. Kruger made sure to make it a memorable event. He brought out the Sunspotter, which projects an image of the sun for safe viewing (and you can see sunspots!). He also rigged up a viewing station with solar glasses. (First photo)

SPARQ Foundation Board Members, Michael Papaik and Mindy Breslin traveled to locations within the path of totality to view this amazing event. Mindy took photos from start to finish and created the collage below. (Second photo)

Photo courtesy Mindy Breslin.

Thank You David McCuan, Sonoma State Professor

The SPARQ Center at PHS thanks Dr. David McCuan for his presentation at the last STEM Cafe of the 2023-2024 school year. Dr. McCuan is a professor at Sonoma State University. He is an expert in both international and national politics, international security and terrorism, state and local politics, campaigns and elections, and political behavior. He gave a very interesting talk about the science behind the study of politics and provided insight into the current political landscape.

Petaluma's St Vincent de Paul Elementary Students tour the SPARQ Center

Seeing stars: St. Vincent de Paul Elementary School students recently had a great day at the SPARQ center. Director Mr. Kruger provided special access during Piner High School's spring break to give the students a private tour. Admissions coordinator Danielle Rynning detailed the visit of students talking about the to-scale Solar System, which spans the length of the campus. They also spent time in the observatory and learned how the telescope worked. The group finished their visit with a fantastic planetarium presentation where Kruger guided them through an interactive view of the Milky Way, constellations, planets, the sun and more.

The Chalkboard: Penngrove students celebrate Holi - The Petaluma Argus-Courier (petaluma360.com)

Thank You Lindsay Dawson

The SPARQ Center would like to thank Lindsay Dawson for her presentation last night. She is a Piner/Grace High School and SRJC alumni who is currently an Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University in the School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, specifically in the Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology. Lindsay talked about her rocky start in high school to where she is now and the research she is doing. Watch this space for the presentation link. Her research primarily focuses on mammalian bone and tissue regeneration. We will post when it's available.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lindsay-Dawson

Thank you Phyllis Rosenfield

The SPARQ Center would like to thank Phyllis Rosenfield for her presentation this past Thursday night to show the award-winning short film: Embers of Awakening: From Firestorms to Climate Health. She shared stories about the impacts of climate change and possible steps we can do to make change ourselves.

To learn more you can find them at http://listeningforachange.org/ or on Facebook under Listening for a Change.

We also thank our Culinary Dept for the delicious cookies.


Thank you Owen Bissel, Cinematographer

The SPARQ Center would like to thank Owen Bissell for his presentation at the January 11, 2024 STEM Cafe.. It was interesting learning about his journey to becoming a wildlife cinematographer. He shared stories about climbing to the top of giant sequoias in the sierras, getting footage of polar bears and belugas, getting footage of a butterfly laying its eggs, and much more. He shared some behind the scenes from an upcoming program on dinosaurs that he filmed that is not released to the public yet.

Mars arrives at Piner High School!

Mars has landed at Piner High School! Thank you to Antonio Chavez for going to Richmond to help Kurt Kruger, Piner Teacher and SPARQ Center Director, pick up the model. The SPARQ Center welcomes this museum grade Topo Mars! Thanks to Scientific Art Studio’s for making this a reality for Piner High. Special Thanks also to Ms. Correia, Piner High School Principal, and the SPARQ Foundation. Fun fact, Scientific Art Studio made the Baseball Mitt in the outfield at Oracle Park among many other Bay Area monuments and Science displays.

It will be a centerpiece for the SPARQ Foyer and will be great for school groups given the Mars missions into the future. Piner used to do a cross curricular unit between departments, then a C-TEC project in the community days, and we would like to resurrect the "Mission to Mars" project. Piner Art students will be enhancing the globe.

Watch for it Fall 2024 and stay tuned! Mission to Mars is next!

Augmented Reality Sandbox

SPARQ Center Director, Kurt Kruger, demonstrated for the SPARQ Board a new tool available to GIS students. Augmented reality sandbox. It physically creates topography models that can be used to simulate an explorer various environmental phenomena, such as flooding and erosion. It came in a kit and was put together by the students. Students are calibrating it now. Calibration is done using the Xbox 360 Kinect sensor. Holding your hand above the sand (like a cloud), you can “make it rain”.