After years of hosting the STEM Symposium, a mini-fair that showcased a passion for STEM among high school students, Kinkaid has decided to host its first annual school-wide STEM Showcase.
Led by the Director of STEM Ms. Lara Cross, the showcase will provide students with the opportunity to present their projects and illustrate their talent.
With the recent addition of the STEM Center earlier this school year, students have been able to develop and execute more extensive projects that involve their passions within STEM.
Sophomore Anna Nguyen explained how she uses the new resources.
“I am researching the impact of urban environmental exposures on cognitive performance and brain structure of healthy individuals at risk for Alzheimer’s dementia,” Nguyen said. “I like how I can do this through the extensive resources provided by the Kinkaid LibGuide made by the librarians.”
But even with the resources, Ms. Cross emphasized that the showcase was created to be more than just about the projects.
“We would like to keep it fun and bring in more exciting activities not just for Upper and Middle School, but also for Lower School, so it becomes a whole community event at Kinkaid, bringing us all together,” she said.
Nguyen shared in her excitement.
“I am especially excited to see and judge the Middle School science presentations because I always find it so interesting what the younger kids can come up with and research with the new trends at their age,” Nguyen said.
Outside organizations such as the Museum of Natural Science is scheduled to be a part of the event.
The science symposium had been a successful event for several years and allowed students to present their ideas and hard work. Because of that success, some might wonder why anything needs to be different.
Ms. Cross believes the new showcase will attract more attention not just to individual projects but to STEM as a whole. By reimagining the event, she said she hopes to draw a wider audience.
Most importantly, she wants people to see that STEM is not just about boring science formulas or complicated math problems, but it is about creativity, innovation and solving real-world problems.
“I want everybody at Kinkaid to realize that STEM is a part of our lives and that it’s not just a few people who sit in laboratories all day,” she said. “I would like everybody at Kinkaid to sort of see themselves as a person who enjoys and benefits from STEM subjects.”
Ms. Cross also has some plans to expand the showcase and the overall STEM program at Kinkaid.
“In the long-term future, I’m hoping that some families and companies that work in STEM fields will want to come in and show more about similar career opportunities in the future,” she said.
