Magnet Life
What's it Like
Year by Year Breakdown
Special Magnet Events
Ninth Grade
The highlight for magnet freshmen is Lake Needwood. Since the Poolesville's Math, Science, Computer Science Magnet began in 2006, Blair and Poolesville have done Needwood together. Students do activities such as indirect measurement, cleaning the environment and much more.
Later in the year, ninth graders have a Chem-R&E project! They write a paper, do experiments and present their project on the topic given.
Tenth Grade
While taking ESS, sophomores complete Mission Possible, where they simulate sending a rover to TerraBlair. Students work in groups to build and program their rover to complete specific tasks. They also present their project and simulation in front of their class and a freshmen class.
Sophomores can also look forward to the overnight trip to Wallops Island in Virginia. Students are divided into groups and do many science related activities - including sieving and sifting, identifying organisms that live near dunes, and learning about the marsh environment. In addition, there is one night of either roller skating at The Dream or go-carting. The best part of Wallops is going in the mud!
Eleventh and Twelfth Grade
During junior year, students do the safety project in Research Design, where they must make a device safer for people to use. The idea must not be already patented. Juniors create a prototype of their device, make a TV ad promoting their device, present their device to their class and a sophomore class.
In the summer before senior year, many magnets intern at a lab for their senior research project. SRP A, taken at the end of junior year, helps students find an internship for the summer and when they return to school in the fall as seniors, SRP B helps them write scientific papers for submission to science competitions like Intel and Siemens.
Depending on what classes juniors and seniors take, they may or may not go on field trips. (AP Biology and marine biology often take trips) Juniors and seniors can have fun taking classes they are interested in, taking APs, and applying to colleges.
