LEOMINSTER -- Students enjoyed a week of STEM activities and field trips offered by the Spanish American Center during the week of Oct. 21 through Oct. 25, in celebration of Massachusetts STEM Week.
Girls in grades 4 through 8 participated in Geek Is Glam, a STEM hands-on activity and information program held at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in Worcester. This event was hosted by the Girls Scouts of Central and Western Massachusetts. The girls were thrilled to have received t-shirts, lunch, and a tour of the campus.
"This is the third year that the Spanish American Center has participated in this program," said Donata Martin, Youth Programs Consultant, Spanish American Center.
Jim Zebrowski, president of the Aldrich Astronomical Society, hosted a three-session program titled "Down to Earth Science".
The program showed the students how to capture images of prominent objects including the sun, the moon, and some star clusters, nebulae, distant galaxies and the recent comet named "Tsuchinshan-ATLAS," seen that week. A special telescope that uses a built-in camera to image and track the sun or any deep space object, was able to send images to a cell phone or tablet.
"We were able to see the sun, sunspots, and learned that stars make constellations," said Jonathan Torres, a student who participated in the program.
The Mass Audubon Society joined the Spanish American Center for a program titled "Biomimicry - design engineering inspired by nature."
"The program looked at all types of plant and animal adaptations," said Kathleen Kennedy, of Mass Audubon. "Youth then created new inventions based on what they learned about Biomimicry."
Growing Places and 4H paired up to host "Food Fighters", a new 4H STEM challenge, which talked about food security, engineering and entrepreneurial challenges.
WCVB Channel 5 Boston Meteorologist David Williams visited the Spanish American Center to talk about weather, storms, the study of meteorology, and how he became interested in his career.
"There was a great interest in - and many questions about - hurricanes, tornados, wind speeds, worst disaster on record from the children," said Martin. "One of our teens, Bhavya Patel, designed a sweatshirt that was given to the meteorologist as a thank you gift from the youth."
"The Study of BATS" dispelled outdated bat myths and explored the threats facing these harmless and fascinating flying mammals.
"The students were excited to build bat houses and a replica of a bat with a 6-foot wingspan," Martin said.
Massachusetts STEM week was founded by former Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker a number of years ago.
It continues to be an annual statewide event that takes place on the third week of October, organized by the Executive Office of Education and the STEM Advisory Council in partnership with the state's nine regional STEM networks.
STEM Week is a statewide effort to boost the interest, awareness and ability of all students to see themselves in STEM opportunities.
"STEM Week is always a goodtime to dream, explore, and learn new concepts, meet and converse with volunteers who generously give of their time, and delve into the particulars of possible careers, engage in a myriad of hands-on activities and share them with family and friends," Martin said.