- December 26, 2024
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The STEM Outreach at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University hosted a night of learning with Ormond Beach Cub Scouts Pack 327 on Nov. 6.
The STEM night initiative was held for the first time in 2022. Claudia Ehringer Lucas, faculty advisor of STEM Outreach at ERAU, said in a statement to the Observer that the club plans to keep the partnership to do an event every year.
“Education is the foundation of our future," Ehringer Lucas said. "We need to grow children’s knowledge, understanding, and curiosity using the STEM education. I love to share my enthusiasm for science, technology, engineering and nathematics in both informal and formal educational opportunities to promote what I enjoy and love to do."
The STEM night featured three stations: Balloon cars, a water rocket and one with books about STEM, Boeing plane models and 3D Space Mission puzzles from National Geographic. The materials for the third station were donated to the STEM Outreach club by Gregory Rutbell, an industrial engineer at Boeing Co.
The STEM Outreach club aims to mentor local K-12 students through community outreach and instruction in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math, according to its mission statement.
"By participating in STEM activities, our scouts are learning to think scientifically and creatively while having fun in the process," Pack 327 Cubmaster Laurence Namdar said. "Each scout had the opportunity to walk away with more knowledge as well as scientific handicrafts that they built."
Though parents and educators thank the club for hosting STEM events, Philomena Gann, president of Student Club at ERAU, said the real reward lies elsewhere.
"Teaching kids about STEM is about receiving something far more valuable than praise — the immeasurable enrichment that comes from nurturing young minds and witnessing the spark of curiosity light up their world," Gann said.