UVM STEM Showcase Featured Interactive Workshops

A group of grade school students stands around a table with learning objects with UVM STEM Ambassador college students in a workshop.
Photo credit: Margaret Coan

UVM STEM Ambassadors hosted a hands-on STEM Showcase for 55-plus youths ages 8-14 on Saturday, November 4. This interactive event featured seven unique workshops including Galactic Garb: Dressing for the Stars, What floats your boat: The Amazing Boat Race, and Let’s Go for Gold: Robot Olympics, among others.

The STEM Ambassador program is a collaboration between the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences and Extension 4-H. Ambassadors are UVM students in STEM (science, technology, engineering, or math) majors and trained in experiential learning, assertion-evidence presentation style and positive youth development models, among other topics. Each semester they create new, hands-on youth programming to inspire interest in and curiosity about the STEM fields.

Grade school students sitting in a circle on the floor with college students during a UVM STEM workshop.
Photo credit: Margaret Coan

This fifth STEM Showcase had some youth returning after attending all preceding showcases. Feedback from parents included that the best part of the day was “working as a team with other kids to accomplish a common goal,” “interacting with adult students excited about their fields of study,” and “she loved the experiential learning!”