OPINION STEM Expo stimulates the imagination

LAURA MCFARLAND

Managing Editor

For someone who really didn’t enjoy science classes all that much while in school, I am always surprised at how much STEM activities bring a smile to my face.

For those of you who don’t know, STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math. All those topics and more were on display on Thursday, Feb 23 as hundreds of Powhatan County Public Schools children and parents attended the school division’s 2023 STEM Expo.

This was the second year offering this massive event, which saw families going on a veritable treasure hunt around Powhatan High School to find innovative and fascinating new subjects to explore.

While I haven’t seen the numbers yet to know if attendance was as high this year as it was in 2022, I can tell you the school was still hopping the entire time, with many stragglers having to be almost pushed out the door they were having such a good time.

You can see a sampling of a few of the awesome teaching moments I saw both adults and older students passing on to young children eager to learn and explore in the photos on Page A8, but they still only scratch the surface. The career and technical education (CTE) programs were on point offering opportunities to plant seeds with the FFA, practice carpentry and bricklaying skills and visit animals in the small animal care facility, including a wonderfully cute guinea pig named Chubs.

Children got the opportunity to pull the pin setting off a small wooden catapult that launched little orange balls at high school students who bravely sacrificed themselves as targets.

It was awesome to see the opportunities for young people to program different types of robots that then carried out tasks such as drawing an image or knocking down a stack of cups.

It has been just about a year now since the Powhatan Today featured a story on an inquisitive Powhatan Middle School stu-