FORT BENNING, Ga., (April 13, 2016) -- All of Fort Benning's fifth-graders gathered April 11 at Wilson Elementary School to participate in their STEMposium.
While there, they learned about careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Following a presentation by a guest speaker, they completed STEM-related activities throughout the day.
Gelonda Martin, the district-level instructional systems specialist and STEM program coordinator, organized the event.
"We have some contacts at NASA and we thought it would be a good opportunity for my friend George Gabrielle to come out and introduce STEM to the students since he's an engineer. Engineering is one of the components that pulls STEM together," she explained.
Gabrielle works at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Michelle Allen, the principal of Wilson Elementary, added that the STEMposium is part of 21st century learning, which involves the three C's: communication, collaboration, and creativity.
"The STEMposium was created in order to allow students a hands-on opportunity to incorporate STEM into their learning. During the activities they will be able to use the engineering design process, which encourages them to ask, imagine, plan, create, and improve. It's our way of helping students prepare for the next level as well as jobs that haven't even been created yet," she said.
Gabrielle spoke about his presentation saying, "I think it's a wonderful opportunity, especially to come to an Army base. I know the Army kids are tough because of the difficulties they face with their parents being gone a lot."
He added that in addition to talking about the space program, he likes to talk about dreams and goals.
"Hopefully, I can get them to understand that they can do anything they want while enjoying their life," he said.
During his presentation, Gabrielle discussed space shuttles, the astronauts living on NASA's space station as well as its future, and the Mars rovers, with the fifth-graders.
Following his presentation the students were divided into groups. While in those groups they participated in a variety of activities relative to careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Christian Howell, a fifth-grader at Lloyd Elementary, expressed his opinion on the activities saying, "They were awesome. We learned about turbidity in water and how much sediment in water. We also learned about catapults and how to build them."
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