Sparking Innovation: A Look Inside Our Girl-Powered STEAM Extravaganza

We just wrapped up our 2nd Annual ES STEAM Girl-Powered Extravaganza, and honestly, the energy in the room was electric.

The purpose of this event is simple: to promote early and enthusiastic engagement in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM), specifically for our elementary school girls. While female representation in these fields is growing, we know that early exposure and strong role models are crucial. We need to show every girl that she is a capable innovator, problem-solver, and builder.

This was me helping introduce our Sphero Bolt robots to our first group with the HS student volunteer

Mentorship in Motion

What made this event truly special was the level of student leadership. We had incredible volunteers from our High School SWENext (Society of Women Engineers Next) club who didn't just help out—they designed and ran the activity stations themselves. Seeing these older students guide, cheer on, and mentor the younger girls was one of the most rewarding parts of the morning. It built an immediate, aspirational connection for the ES students: If she can do it, I can do it.

Building, Designing, and Launching

On Saturday, November 11th, over 60 students and their accompanying parents jumped right in. To keep the flow dynamic, we organized everyone into small groups named after inspiring female scientists and inventors—Jane Goodall, Mae Jemison, Tu Youyou, and Rosalind Franklin.

These teams rotated through four hands-on, high-energy challenges:

1. Paper Towers: A collaborative engineering challenge to build the tallest, most stable structure using only paper and tape (held in the ES Cafeteria).

2. Squishy Circuits: Exploring basic electrical engineering by using conductive dough to light up LEDs (held in the PreK Piazza).

3. Catapults: Designing and testing small, functional catapults to launch projectiles at targets.

4. Robotics: Getting hands-on with our Dash robots and Spike Prime kits in the ES Maker Space, learning fundamental coding and automation principles.

The morning was a fantastic reminder that learning is best when it’s active, messy, and shared. Watching a parent and child lean over a table, troubleshoot a faulty circuit, or celebrate a successful catapult launch embodies the spirit of our community and the collaborative nature of science.

We capped off the morning with a smoothie, a well-earned "girl-powered" cake, and lots of smiles. Thank you to everyone who participated and to our dedicated SWENext leaders for making this event a success. We're already looking forward to next year!