CWU science booths highlight STEM Night at Valley View

Students, faculty, and staff from the CWU College of the Sciences (COTS) connected with the community and helped build interest in the sciences last month when they participated in the annual STEM Night at Valley View Elementary School.

Seven COTS departments and clubs were represented at the February 11 event, which welcomed dozens of families to explore a wide variety of hands-on science displays and demonstrations.

“The main purpose of the event for us was STEM outreach and education,” said Linnea Stavney, a classroom support technician with the Department of Biological Sciences. “The goal of our booth was to get kids interested in biology and expose them to some different types of animals like snakes and lizards.”

Joining Stavney (pictured above) at Valley View were representatives from Anthropology, who displayed a variety of animal skulls; Physics (experiments, smoke rings); the Museum of Culture and Environment (artifacts); Primate Awareness Network club (primate hunting strategies); Geology Club (habitat activity); and COTS (slime table).

Stavney explained that a secondary purpose of the STEM Night booths is to passively recruit young students and to show them what they can do with a college degree. In her case, that means working with a lot of unique, exotic animals like bearded dragons and blue-tongued skinks.

“We also brought our two corn snakes, whose names are Corn on the Cob and Candy Corn,” said Stavney, the CWU greenhouse and vivarium manager. “The kids got to feel their scales and hold the snakes around their neck, which showed them that they don’t need to be afraid. By the end, some of the kids didn’t want to give them back.”

STEM Night is one of a handful of site visits COTS participates in throughout the year; another is the Central Washington State Fair in Yakima. The college also coordinates campus visits for community members so they can meet the animals, check out the planetarium, tour the museum, and more.

“It was cool to see CWU so well represented at STEM Night,” Stavney said. “All of the departments got to collaborate and create a fun event for local families.”

She walked away feeling like she had inspired a number of Valley View students to pursue a future in the sciences.

“Even if they aren’t going to apply to Central for a few years, we are able to show them the possibilities,” Stavney said. “It's also a chance for us to show these families how science can benefit their communities. That was one of the biggest takeaways for me.”

A group of CWU Physics Club students also left Valley View feeling like they had connected with more than a few young scientists.

Club president Christian Laurent, vice president Stephanie Denton, treasurer Ti Bruton, and secretary Mckenzie Winegar staged a series of experiments for the attendees and introduced students to some new concepts that they hope will stick with them.

“One of our club goals is to get out in the community as much as possible to share our love for physics,” Bruton said. “We just like talking about this stuff.”

Winegar explained that there aren’t many similar opportunities to get out into the community and talk about the things she and her peers are passionate about.

“Anytime we can go out and spread physics knowledge to other people, we try to take advantage,” she said, adding that there were a handful of Ellensburg High School Running Start students in attendance.

“We may inspire other people to become physics majors someday,” Laurent added. “We remember seeing these demonstrations when we were kids, and it was people like us who were doing the presentations. Whenever we can introduce students to new concepts and share what we love, it’s worth it.”

Denton said she enjoyed talking about a variety of topics with students throughout the evening, helping them understand how physics is all around us.

“I felt like I was talking to people non-stop,” she said. “It was fun to watch the kids’ expressions and see them light up when we showed them something that was new to them. Seeing them get excited about what we were talking about was the best part.”

One of the fan-favorite demonstrations was an air cannon that showed how high and low pressures can create smoke rings. The students also provided demonstrations on angular momentum and magnetic force.

The Physics Club members left the event believing that they had given the next generation of scientists plenty to think about.

“My favorite part about events like this is you don’t know how impactful you might be on their futures,” Denton said. “Some of those kids might remember this night forever and choose to go into a STEM field because of what they learned.”

That early curiosity is what helped Bruton decide that he wanted to pursue a career in physics.

“I got interested in science by asking questions,” he said. “The whole point of this kind of work is to be curious and then do experiments to see what’s going on.”

Becoming a scientist requires a lot of reading, experimentation, and lab time. And while it takes many years to build a scientific career, those who have done it believe it’s a worthwhile pursuit.

“Physics can be really fun, and that’s what we wanted to show these kids,” Laurent said. “It’s not just math; there’s a whole other side to it.”

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Photos courtesy of Coco Wu, College of Business professor and Valley View parent.