{"id":106734,"date":"2025-07-22T15:31:01","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T19:31:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/?p=106734"},"modified":"2025-07-30T11:58:39","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T15:58:39","slug":"umw-physics-ping-program-inspires-high-schoolers-empowers-future-physics-educators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/2025\/07\/22\/umw-physics-ping-program-inspires-high-schoolers-empowers-future-physics-educators\/","title":{"rendered":"UMW Physics \u2018PING\u2019 Program Inspires High Schoolers, Empowers Future Educators"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tristan Towle and Zubair Mohammadzai take turns lobbing colorful cotton balls at a black canvas hanging in a University of Mary Washington parking deck. The splatters they create with washable paint remind Towle, a junior at Brooke Point High School, of fireworks, but Mohammadzai has another theory.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been talking about stars, red giants and white dwarves,\u201d said the Osbourn Park High School senior, thinking back to the astrophysics lesson led by UMW faculty members as well as current physics majors Hannah Steele, Aliya Ather and CJ Hulleman. \u201cThey look like different colors based on temperature.\u201d<\/p>\n

The activity, combining both astronomy and art, is part of Physicists Inspiring the Next Generation (PING), introduced at Mary Washington this summer as an expansion of a program that began at Michigan State University (MSU). For two weeks, regional high schoolers curious about majoring in physics in college are exploring astrophysics, electronics and computer coding, under the guidance of UMW Physics faculty members.<\/p>\n

\"Hannah <\/a>
Hannah Steele ’26, who earned a Noyce Scholarship at UMW, demonstrates to high schoolers Zubair Mohammadzai (left), Michael Young (center) and Maiwand Barakzai (right) how to soak the cotton balls in washable paint before throwing them at black canvases hanging in UMW’s Alvey Parking Deck. Photo by K Pearlman Photography. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"From <\/a>
From left: High schoolers Michael Young, Alexander Rosas and Vincent Phan dip cotton balls in washable paints before lobbing them at black canvases to create artwork resembling evolving stellar clusters, which they learned about in an astrophysics lesson. Photo by K Pearlman Photography. <\/div> <\/div>
\"Alexander <\/a>
Alexander Rosas, a senior at Stafford High School, shows off his strategy of using heavily painted cotton balls on the right side of the canvas and reused cotton balls on the left side to demonstrate that the amount of energy put into an object correlates to its outcome. Rosas, who is involved with robotics and technology clubs in high school, said he was excited to connect with members of the physics community in Fredericksburg by participating in the PING program. Photo by K Pearlman Photography. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Tristan <\/a>
Tristan Towle (center), a junior at Brooke Point High School, chucks a painted cotton ball at the canvas, while Zubair Mohammadzai, a senior at Osbourn Park High School, and UMW Physics Chair and Professor Matt Fleenor watch. Photo by K Pearlman Photography. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"High <\/a>
High schooler Maiwand Barakzai chucks a painted cotton ball at a canvas while his classmates look on. Photo by K Pearlman Photography. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Supported by a\u00a0Fund for Mary Washington Impact Grant<\/a>\u00a0totaling $4,500, the program also provides stipends for three UMW student mentors majoring in physics and open to teaching at the high school level.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis program would\u2019ve expanded my avenues if I participated in it during high school,\u201d said Ather, a Mary Washington sophomore who is serving as a PING mentor this summer. \u201cI\u2019m excited to share my knowledge about physics but also how to collaborate in this field and how important it is to integrate the creative side into physics.\u201d<\/p>\n

UMW Professor and Chair of Physics Matt Fleenor estimates that over half of high school physics classrooms in the U.S. are taught by someone without a degree in the field. \u201cSo, our aim is to cultivate interest in physics locally among high school students while supporting the potential futures of high school physics instructors,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Fleenor reached out to high school physics teachers in the greater Fredericksburg area to recruit applicants, resulting in a cohort of six students in Mary Washington\u2019s inaugural PING program. Statistics show that 80% of UMW physics majors come from a 90-mile radius, he said. \u201cThey grow up here, come to school here and end up teaching or working at Dahlgren or somewhere close by.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kenya Wallach, former math and science supervisor for Stafford County Public Schools, had long wanted to bring such a program to the region. Last fall, she and Fleenor were surprised to discover they were seated in the same row at a conference in Houston, listening to Wallach\u2019s 16-year-old daughter, Emma, speak about her experiences in PING at MSU.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the time my children were little, we talked about physics and mathematics and how they touch every aspect of our lives,\u201d said Wallach, who leads PING\u2019s parent group, Promoting Opportunities for the Next Generation (PONG). All three of her children participated in the program, and now her 19-year-old daughter is earning a Ph.D. in physics at MSU. \u201cIn order to see yourself doing something, you have to see people like you succeeding at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Hannah <\/a>
Hannah Steele \u201926, a UMW student mentor and Noyce Scholarship recipient, guides high schoolers Vincent Phan (left) and Alexander Rosas in creating a circuit. Photo by Katie VanHouten ’26. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"From <\/a>
From left: CJ Hulleman \u201928, one of the PING program mentors, demonstrates to high schoolers Michael Young and Maiwand Barakzai how to construct a circuit that measures the effect of resonance, a physics concept that can be applied to engineering, biomedicine and technology. Photo by Katie VanHouten ’26. <\/div> <\/div>
\"High <\/a>
High schoolers Maiwand Barakzai (left) and Michael Young make notes as they learn about creating circuits. Photo by Katie VanHouten ’26. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"UMW <\/a>
UMW Physics Chair and Professor Matt Fleenor demonstrates how to construct a circuit to high schooler Zubair Mohammadzai (center), while UMW student mentor Aliya Ather and volunteer mentor Emma Wallach (right) observe. Photo by Katie VanHouten ’26. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"High <\/a>
High schoolers Zubair Mohammadzai (left) and Tristan Towle (right) are guided in a lesson by volunteer mentor Emma Wallach, a Stafford High School junior who already participated in the PING program at Michigan State University, and UMW mentor Aliya Ather \u201928 (background). Photo by Katie VanHouten ’26. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Emma, who is serving as a volunteer mentor, and her mother designed the paintball splatter activity and helped Fleenor create a curriculum that gives participants the chance to create circuits, make measurements, plot graphs, learn Python coding and explore evolving star clusters using cutting-edge technology. The students are also touring the UMW campus and learning about research Mary Washington students and faculty are doing in the Irene Piscopo Rodgers \u201959 Summer Science Institute<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Steele, a senior mentor who aspires to teach physics after graduating from Mary Washington, learned from Wallach how to employ an explicit inquiry-based instruction model. By writing in reflection journals and engaging in role-play, the mentors learned how to provide the high school students with a solid foundation for the material and ask guided questions to help them reach their own conclusions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt allows them to struggle productively until they find the answer on their own,\u201d said Steele, who received a Robert Noyce Teaching Scholarship<\/a>\u00a0through UMW\u2019s College of Education partnership with the National Science Foundation.<\/p>\n

Alexander Rosas, a Stafford High School senior, experienced his own \u201ca-ha moment\u201d while engaging in the physics painting activity. His strategy? Tossing cotton balls dripping with paint to create a grouping resembling a stellar cluster and then reusing them to create a contrast on the other side of the canvas.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to show that the amount of energy put into an object correlates to its outcome,\u201d said Rosas, who hopes PING will help him make connections within the physics community in Fredericksburg. \u201cThis project showed me a different perspective of what physics could be.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Participants <\/a>
Participants in the PING program show off their paintball splatters, reminiscent of evolving stellar clusters. From left: UMW Physics Chair and Professor Matt Fleenor; UMW mentor Aliya Ather \u201928; volunteer mentor Emma Wallach, a Stafford High School junior who participated in the PING program at MSU; high schoolers Alexander Rosas, Vincent Phan, Tristan Towle, Zubair Mohammadzai, Michael Young and Maiwand Barakzai; and UMW mentors CJ Hulleman \u201928 and Hannah Steele \u201926. Photo by K Pearlman Photography. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n
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UMW\u2019s Fund for Mary Washington Impact Grants<\/em><\/strong><\/a> program is made possible through donors\u2019 gifts to the Fund for Mary Washington. These gifts are vital to the University\u2019s ability to improve the student experience and support faculty, providing crucial flexibility to respond to emerging challenges and seize opportunities as they arise. When alumni, parents, friends, faculty and staff give to the\u00a0<\/em>Fund for Mary Washington<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, they are choosing to be part of a community that is committed to giving back and making the world a better place \u2013 enabling students to make positive change through programs like the Fund for Mary Washington Impact Grants. Read other Fund for Mary Washington Impact Grant stories at Giving.umw.edu<\/a><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tristan Towle and Zubair Mohammadzai take turns lobbing colorful cotton balls at a black canvas hanging in a University of Mary Washington parking deck. The splatters they create with washable paint remind Towle, a junior at Brooke Point High School, of fireworks, but Mohammadzai has another theory. \u201cWe\u2019ve been talking about stars, red giants and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1236,"featured_media":106746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"umw_cb_additional_links":[[]],"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_advisory_expires_time":"","_advisory_meta_include":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[704],"tags":[15436,15123,15566,15567,15565],"topics":[5145],"class_list":{"0":"post-106734","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-stories","8":"tag-fund-for-mary-washington-impact-grants","9":"tag-mfleenor","10":"tag-physicists-inspiring-the-next-generation","11":"tag-ping","12":"tag-umw-physics-program","13":"topic-technology-humanity","14":"entry"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUMW Physics \u2018PING\u2019 Program Inspires High Schoolers, Empowers Future Educators - News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/2025\/07\/22\/umw-physics-ping-program-inspires-high-schoolers-empowers-future-physics-educators\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UMW Physics \u2018PING\u2019 Program Inspires High Schoolers, Empowers Future Educators\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tristan Towle and Zubair Mohammadzai take turns lobbing colorful cotton balls at a black canvas hanging in a University of Mary Washington parking deck. The splatters they create with washable paint remind Towle, a junior at Brooke Point High School, of fireworks, but Mohammadzai has another theory. \u201cWe\u2019ve been talking about stars, red giants and […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/2025\/07\/22\/umw-physics-ping-program-inspires-high-schoolers-empowers-future-physics-educators\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UniversityofMaryWashington\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-22T19:31:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-30T15:58:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/07\/NewRelease_PING_2025.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"413\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jill Laiacona\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@UMaryWash\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UMaryWash\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jill Laiacona\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/news\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/22\\\/umw-physics-ping-program-inspires-high-schoolers-empowers-future-physics-educators\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/news\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/22\\\/umw-physics-ping-program-inspires-high-schoolers-empowers-future-physics-educators\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jill Laiacona\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/81cd90fbc8c9a45401477e39ce19ef4b\"},\"headline\":\"UMW Physics \u2018PING\u2019 Program Inspires High Schoolers, Empowers Future Educators\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-22T19:31:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-30T15:58:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/news\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/22\\\/umw-physics-ping-program-inspires-high-schoolers-empowers-future-physics-educators\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":911,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/news\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/22\\\/umw-physics-ping-program-inspires-high-schoolers-empowers-future-physics-educators\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/7\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/NewRelease_PING_2025.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Fund for Mary Washington Impact Grants\",\"mfleenor\",\"Physicists Inspiring the Next Generation\",\"PING\",\"UMW Physics Program\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Top Stories\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/news\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/22\\\/umw-physics-ping-program-inspires-high-schoolers-empowers-future-physics-educators\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/news\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/22\\\/umw-physics-ping-program-inspires-high-schoolers-empowers-future-physics-educators\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/news\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/22\\\/umw-physics-ping-program-inspires-high-schoolers-empowers-future-physics-educators\\\/\",\"name\":\"UMW Physics \u2018PING\u2019 Program Inspires High Schoolers, Empowers Future Educators - 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