Lufkin ISD 4th grade students experience STEM Fest

LUFKIN, Texas (KTRE) - Lufkin ISD fourth grade students gathered at the Pitser Garrison Civic Center for STEM Fest on Friday. The festival is an opportunity to introduce the fourth graders to STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) programs through fun activities.

Suzy Jungmann, STEM coordinator for the district, said this is her seventh year putting on the event.

“We have a maker fair where we have six different stations, and we have six stations where they get to experience the green screen, a discovery dome, and Ellen Trout Zoo is here,” Jungmann said.

In the maker fair students are able to make their own free fall parachutes, circuit lightsabers, gaming controls and straw rockets. They then go to the STEM stations where they can see the robotics students’ work, play in front of a green screen and do an escape pod as well as many more activities.

The high school STEM students help put all of this on. Jungmann said this is to help build leadership skills. Senior Alexandra Haney said it’s cool to watch the kids discover the STEM field.

“STEM fields are just so important, and seeing these kids have that spark lit in them when they are watching the planetarium show, for example, all the kids ‘oohing and ahhing,’ it’s really neat,” Haney said.

Senior Anson Adams was at the robotics station.

“All the 4th graders really seem to love interacting with the robot and ask really lucrative questions. It’s really cool seeing passion at such a young age,” Adams said.

Jungmann said they want to introduce their students to STEM at a young age.

“So that they are interested in applying to our STEM prep program in middle school, which will lead to a stem academy at the high school level. Most of the job market is now STEM-related fields, and we want to get that started at a young age,” Jungmann said.

Senior Jacqueline Silva said today’s STEM fest could open the doors to new possibilities for these students.

“So, hopefully it opens their mind to new possibilities and careers alongside the stem field to strive to be the very best they can be,” Silva said.

Some of the activities done today will be brought back to the classroom.

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