On Friday July 21st over 125 youth participated in Kohl’s Explore Your Future STEM Showcase at COA Youth & Family Centers’ Goldin Center (2320 W. Burleigh). Teams competed to complete physics and engineering challenges. Preteens teams from Auer Avenue School, Hopkins-Lloyd CommunitY School, O.W. Holmes School, the COA Riverwest Center, and Westside Academy participated.
The event was split into two fun STEM activities, which teams of 8-15 kids worked in to demonstrate their growing knowledge and complete collaboratively. To kick things off, the energetic youth teams experimented with weight distribution and basic engineering principles to see which team could support a person’s weight with the least number of paper cups used. The second activity included youth teams working to assemble do-it-yourself paper rocket launchers out of 2-liter bottles, bicycle tubing, tape, and other supplies within a short time limit.
The STEM Showcase was part of the brand-new Kohl’s Explore Your Future STEM program at COA, which aims to provide high-quality scientific education and career exploration to over 550 children in the first year alone. This program is a new addition to the agency’s year-round youth development programming and is offered at nine sites, including the Riverwest Center, Goldin Center, Hopkins-Lloyd Community School CLC (Community Learning Center), Auer Avenue CLC, O.W. Holmes CLC, Anne F. Doerfler School CLC, Lincoln Center for the Arts CLC, Riverside University CLC, and Westside Academy CLC.
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