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CORVALLIS, Ore - It's not often that math and science instruction bring a SMILE to a student's face, but on March 16 and 17, that will be the case for more than 400 middle and high school students visiting Oregon State and Western Oregon universities.

SMILE stands for Science and Math Investigative Learning Experiences. The SMILE Program is a partnership between OSU and 14 Oregon school districts -- mostly rural -- to provide science and math enrichment for underrepresented and other educationally underserved students in grades 4-12.

Once each year, SMILE students participate in a college connection event designed to build their familiarity with and personal connections to higher education. Middle and high school students visit the campuses of Western Oregon and Oregon State for science-related "challenges," tours of campus facilities and interactions with college faculty and students.

Middle school engineering teams will embark on a "Mission to Mars" during this spring's Middle School Challenges. Students will design a "Mars Rovers" out of Lego Robotics systems and program these robots to perform tasks such as collecting rock samples and landing on Martian terrain. These events will take place on March 16-17, as well as April 6-7. Thursday afternoons, the challenges will take place at WOU, and Fridays the students will visit OSU to perform their challenges in the Memorial Union Ballroom and visit the campus.

During the high school challenge students will be working on a community-based scenario centered on fisheries management. The high school students will be in teams of 8-10 working together on an issue dealing with managing fisheries in a community, exploring various problems and solutions. This event will be held April 20-21.

"The longevity of SMILE speaks to the ongoing need for enrichment and college readiness services for underrepresented and underserved students and families," said Eda Davis-Butts, Director of the SMILE Program at OSU. "The success of SMILE speaks to the program's capacity to create partnerships that bring mutual benefit and deliver effective and efficient services."

Student teams for all the challenges will be supported in their learning by OSU college student volunteers, who undergo training beforehand on working with youth, teaching and presenting skills and how to be an effective mentor. Those interested in working with the SMILE Program as a college student mentor should contact Dani Marlette at 541-737-9265.

One of SMILE's principal goals is to increase the number of historically underrepresented and other educationally underserved students who graduate from high school and are qualified to enter college to pursue careers related to mathematics, science, engineering, health professions, and teaching.

Statewide, some 82 percent of SMILE participants are racial or ethnic minority students, mostly Native American and Latino/Hispanic. Fifteen percent are low-income white students, while 60 percent are female.

SMILE students meet weekly in after-school clubs. Two teachers from each participating school facilitate the clubs and lead students in enrichment activities. The clubs take field trips to local or regional sites of scientific or technological interest. These trips provide students direct experience with the applications of math and science and help students gain awareness of career opportunities open to those who are well prepared.