STEM Challenge Yields $30K For ALS Research
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The fourth annual STEM Fair & Challenge at Northport High School recently raised nearly $30,000 for ALS research, according to school officials.
Young scientists and engineers from the local community attended the fair, which was held April 21.
This event was expanded this year to include a kindergarten-through-fourth grade fair in the high school’s commons that featured 21 STEM activities.
That portion of the fair was designed and facilitated by kindergarten-through-12th-grade teachers, working with students from the technology and engineering honor society, and physics students. Children had the opportunity to exercise creativity and problem-solving skills through hands-on experience with VEX robotics, Scratch coding, laser mazes, flower chromatography, hover balloons, and more.
Additionally, the Cyberian Tigers, the high school robotics team, demonstrated their fifth-generation robot. The robot, which reached the quarterfinals at the regional competition at Hofstra University, was made available for students to control and drive.
At the STEM Challenge, students in grades 5-8 had a four-hour block to participate in team events. One hundred students from six schools made up the 25 participating teams. Awards for top performance in the following events were given: a mystery solution mix-up; circuit central; the marshmallow tower design; and puzzling math.
More than 30 students from Northport High School volunteered to help facilitate these events.
The STEM Fair and Challenge was sponsored by Sterling National Bank, as part of the Team Packard initiative and Midwinter Night’s Dream, to raise money for the fight against Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.
Funds were to be directed to the Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins University.
