By Faith Ball
On Saturday, March 22, staff, students and volunteers at Grand Rapids Community College gathered at the Calkins Science Center to celebrate STEM and engage the community in hands-on science activities ranging from owl pellet dissection to succulent propagation.
GRCC’s first STEM Day started a decade ago in 2015. Although COVID-19 put a hold on it for a couple of years, Professor Anesa Behrem, instructional lab coordinator and organizer said that STEM Day has come back stronger and better than ever. The popularity of STEM Day has increased from approximately 350 people last year to 600 people who visited this year. The event was free and offered something for kids and adults of all ages.
“I think it’s really important to educate our community about STEM… The event’s goal was to engage kids in STEM, especially girls,” Behrem said. “If we involve them and show them how much fun it could be… maybe they will feel encouraged to choose that as their career.”
Kari Fuller, a teacher from Allendale, brought her 6-year-old niece Margo Ruster to her first stem day.
“Science is so real to life and we want kids to experience how fun it is. Anytime we can get kids to experience hands-on (learning), we so appreciate it,” Fuller said.
When Ruster was asked about her favorite room at STEM Day, she had a lot to choose from. “We’ve been to worm making. We’ve been to a greenhouse. We’ve been to an escape room. We did the DNA and face paint. I really like the DNA (room),” Ruster said.
STEM Day was not only an opportunity for the community to learn about STEM, but also a chance for GRCC students to teach the community about STEM.
“My students from Science 201, some of them are considering being teachers,” biology professor, Dr. Sarah Krajewski said. “Their responsibility was to become mini experts on owl pellets… They figured out facts they wanted to share and some crafts and posters they’ve done.”
Krajewski has been running the owl pellet dissection room at STEM Day for around six years now, and it has often been a fan favorite amongst the kids.
STEM Day was a great way for GRCC students to solidify their learning by teaching others what they had learned. It fostered the circular relationship between teachers, students and the community.
“As a kid, no one ever taught me exactly what owl pellets were, like not only being able to learn them myself, but then, like, right after I learned it, being able to give that lesson right back was really cool,” Krajweski’s student, Lawrence Turley, 34, a sports management major said.
STEM Day had kids ranging from 5 to 12 years old running around the halls excited to learn about STEM. Kid-centered activities like candy DNA and slime-making were well received. Even so, animal-related activities such as the John Ball traveling zoo, cow eye dissection and owl pellets appealed to kids the most.
Marissa Mengesha, a 22-year-old, biomedical science major and volunteer at STEM Day said, “I’d say the importance of STEM Day was to inspire the younger generation of kids to get interested in the field of STEM.”
