ORLANDO, Fla. – About 300 local students helped kick off the Orlando Science Center’s Spark STEM Fest with an interactive field trip, featuring hands-on work sessions with STEM professionals. Spark STEM Fest is presented by the UCF Office of Research.
“The students are doing a lot of different activities. We have NASA here, they are learning about the upcoming solar eclipse. We have Disney here, they are doing some coding workshops and working with their animal groups. And we also have a few different presenters from Save the Manatees. Our presenting sponsor is the Office of Research at UCF. And so we have the Institute of Simulation and Training that’s doing a workshop. And also the Marine Turtle Research Group that’s here. They are measuring turtle shells and getting very hands-on with all of the science activities,” said Katie Hodges, director of Education Programs at OSC. “It is a really great feeling. You know, our mission here is to inspire science learning for life. So we’re very excited to bring these students in and just be the spark that ignites their curiosity and interest in going into some of these STEM careers.”
Students rotated through several 30-minute workshops. In the workshop with the group Minorities in Shark Research, students learned about different shark species by examining shark teeth and feeling shark skin. Students also had the opportunity to check out robots created by FIRST. News 6 anchor Julie Broughton spoke with the group’s Central and North Florida regional director, Wendy Austin.
“We are a global nonprofit that uses robots to get kids interested and excited about careers in STEM fields. We start programs at age 4 and go all the way up to 18. And my favorite part is there’s $80 million in scholarships available,” Austin said.
Austin said she has a background in theatre, but she got involved in robotics when her son was a child.
“So why are you still doing this when your kids aren’t in it anymore?” Broughton asked her.
“Because, oh, you’re gonna make me cry. I get to watch kids grow up, become competent, understand what their abilities are,” Austin said. “The best way I can say it is there’s a young lady, one of my teens in Tallahassee, who doesn’t want to be an engineer, she wants to be an entomologist. But she doesn’t think she can get through biology, because she hates it. And she was studying for a team and freaking out and she said, ‘I just realized in my head, I built a whole robot. If I can do that, I can pass this biology test.’ And she did. That’s why I do it.”
Spark STEM Fest wrapped up over the weekend, however, Hodges says there are plenty of opportunities year round to connect with STEM professionals at OSC.
“So we have a lot of opportunities for students to come back and check out all of the different things at the Science Center. We’re constantly getting new exhibits and new programs. A lot of our middle schoolers and high schoolers come back to volunteer over the summer. So that’s another opportunity for teenagers,” she said.
You can learn more about upcoming events at OSC by visiting them online here.
You can listen to every episode of Florida’s Fourth Estate in the media player below: