Article By:
Nathan Choe
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
STEMCON 2020
4
STEMCON is a platform for STEM students, educators, the community and administrators to share their love of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). STEMCON returned to Saddle Brook High School and welcomed hundreds of students, teachers, and interested community members! Everyone celebrated STEM outreach and inspired students on March 13th in the high school’s main gym. This year's annual convention was split into four main activity themes. Flight Technology, Wellness Science, Environmental Awareness, and Electrical Engineering formed the four pillars of this year's STEMCON.
The convention featured dozens of activities including an Environmental Escape Room, The Recycling Challenge, Soldering Workshops, Circuit Building, Yoga, The Stress Lab, Nutrition Science and Bat Speed Science. There were many great ways for the students to celebrateSTEM this day and many prepared them to champion STEM all year long, at home and in the classroom. The convention was student centered and each activity was run by a volunteer staff of students that wanted to share their learned expertise in different STEM topics.
The day was an opportunity to focus on helping the Saddle Brook Falcons advance in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. Creating understanding around STEM is a big topic of conversation today. Statistics show few American students pursue expertise in STEM fields despite the fact that the need for STEM oriented job skills is skyrocketing. More and more careers require STEM skills, and getting our students curious about math and science at a young age gives them a solid foundation to build upon. The mission of the annual STEMCON is to help our student population become the makers of our future. By introducing these topics via gamified, project-based-learning, and interest-based learning, the STEMCON staff turned challenging subjects into fun activities that the students easily grasped and truly enjoyed. topics.