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Oh Wow! hosts STEM festival finale
By LINDA M. LINONIS
YOUNGSTOWN
Free fun, with a lot of learning tossed in, attracted some 3,000 children and adults to Silly Science Sunday at OH WOW! The Roger and Gloria Jones Children’s Center for Science and Technology.
Hands-on, interactive STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) displays, exhibit and stage shows were set up in front of OH WOW! at 11 W. Federal St., and along the sidewalks on both sides of the street. Children and their adult companions also had the run of OH WOW!, where an array of activities was offered.
The event was the finale of Seven Days of STEM Youngstown Regional Science and Technology Festival.
Among participants were about 15 Chaney STEM students in the high school’s program that earned a Governor’s Thomas Edison Award for Excellence in STEM Education for the third year. Chaney is one of 57 Ohio schools to receive the award from the Ohio Academy of Science. Chaney first earned the award after its first year in operation.
Pam Lubich, STEM coordinator, said Chaney students helped youngsters make slime and create marshmallow towers. Lubich said the slime formula is a mixture of glue, water and borax with a little food coloring to jazz it up. “It’s like Silly Putty,” she said.
Jasmine Harper, 16, a junior in STEM at Chaney, said she “liked to see the reactions of kids when they make slime.”
Seventeen-year-old Ashley Delgado, a Chaney senior who is in the Visual and Performing Arts program, said she likes to help younger kids “learn how to make something” and making slime is “fun.”
Vicki Sapanero of Edinburg, Pa., was at the slime table with her grandson, Treyton Hill, 5. “I wanted him to have this experience and get interested in science,” she said. “He liked a lot of things here.”
Children were challenged to “walk on water” at a messy but fun display, at which cornstarch was mixed with water. Children got their feet wet then walked through a cornstarch and water channel. The explanation noted that when pressure is applied to the mixture, it turns to a solid.
Adults were attracted to the 3-D printing exhibit while children stopped at exhibits that included watermelon explosion, honey bees, freedom climber, how to make a boat float, milking a cow, robotics and live birds from Birds in Flight Sanctuary. Children stopped to pet Mercy, a Belgian Malinois with the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Department, who liked the attention.
Kimberly Omoresie of Youngstown was among visitors with her sons, Osa, 11, a sixth-grader at Chaney, and Eghosa, 8, a third-grader at Kirkmere Elementary School. “They both were excited to come,” Omoresie said.
“I like science and like to learn about it,” Osa said. His brother, Eghosa, said he also was interested in science and was enjoying the displays.
Jay Gordan of Poland watched his daughters, Nina, 8, and Lila, 6, as they placed large rubber bands around a watermelon. The idea is to squeeze the watermelon, which will eventually burst from the pressure. “They’re having a good time,” he said.
Isaiah Terlecki, 9, and his mother, Sarah Terlecki of Youngstown, also attended. “He likes science and math,” she said of her son, who added that the math-problem activities were his favorite.
Katie Seminara, assistant manager at OH WOW!, said about 100 volunteers from the community and OH WOW! staff were involved. Exhibitors were Youngstown College of STEM, Butler Institute of American Art, Ward Beecher Planetarium, Historical Center of Industry and Labor, Grow Youngstown/Compost Campaign, The Lettuce People, Iron Roots Urban Farm, Mahoning Valley Historical Society, Mill Creek MetroParks, Dr. Ray’s Side Show of Science, Valley high school robotics teams and STEM programs, NASA, AST2 (Applied Systems and Technology Transfer), America Makes, Melnick Medical Museum, Home Depot, 20/9 Radio Club, Cleveland Municipal School District Mobile FabLab and Birds in Flight Sanctuary.