WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Students spent the day building paper towers in Williamsport as part of Pennsylvania College of Technology's first STEMfest. It's an end-of-the-year celebration for teachers who participated in the college's externship camp last July.
Two dozen teachers from across central Pennsylvania participated in the program, meeting with Penn College faculty and BLaST Intermediate Unit staff to learn about new science standards.
"They got to fabricate and take home a 3-D printer for use in their classrooms. They're also creating a lesson bank, and we connected them with corporate partners from here at Penn College so their students can take a trip to a manufacturing facility," said Kathy Chesmel, an assistant dean at Penn College.
The teachers brought their students along for the celebration of engineering and technical careers.
Nearly 300 students from 13 middle schools in central Pennsylvania participated in activities, design challenges, and engineering labs. The activities are funded by a PAsmart Grant, an initiative to expand inclusion in STEM teaching and learning.
"They're also going to have a carnival where they're going to do some games and have fun, and they're also going to do some activities from the Plastivan. The educators from the Society of Plastic Engineers come, and they do some activities to help kids understand how important polymers are," Chesmel said.
Penn College decided to have STEMfest this year to have middle school students come to the campus to learn more about engineering and what the staff does here.
"To think about that idea of engineering, problem-solving, starting to think about their future, what kind of jobs do they want to have, what kind of careers they want to have. I mean, they're in sixth grade, which seems young, but I think it's never too early for them to start just playing around with those ideas," said Luke Herron, a technology education teacher at Central Mountain Middle School.
Claire Nestor is a sixth grader at Central Mountain Middle School. She says STEMfest was a fun new learning experience.
"I didn't get as many experiences at my old school, and I've been getting way more experiences at my new school, and I thought this would be something to take for me onto something new."
Penn College is holding another engineering externship for teachers in July.