GUILDERLAND — On Saturday, May 20, the South Colonie Central School District and Raiderfest hosted the 2nd annual Greater Capital Region STEAM Exposition at Colonie Central High School, featuring more than 35 projects by more than 70 high school students from seven school districts, including South Colonie, North Colonie, Niskayuna, Burnt Hills – Ballston Lake, Hudson Falls, Guilderland, and Tech Valley High School.
Over the course of five hours, students presented their projects more than 20 times. At the end of the Expo, Febronia Mansour, a senior at Guilderland High School, won first place — and $500 — for her work with neurological connections and how impulse travels through the brain.
STEAM education focuses on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, with the addition of Arts and Design. The movement, which aims to teach students to think critically and integrate a creative design approach when solving real world problems through science, technology and math, has been widely adopted by institutions, corporations and individuals around the world.
Six students from Guilderland High School’s E=mc2 inquiry program (Exploring with Mindful Creativity & Curiosity) competed against 36 other students in the senior division for a first place prize of $500. Similar to a science fair, the STEAM Exposition is meant to be more interdisciplinary. Student entries were required to incorporate at least two STEAM disciplines in their project.
“It was an amazing day and all of our participants gained something from having an opportunity to showcase their research,” said Bernard Bott, GHS school librarian and E=mc2 research coordinator.
The STEAM projects presented by GHS students, below, covered a variety of disciplines and found truly creative ways to approach them from a design or arts perspective.
Dream Weaver: Understanding the Obscurity Within Dreams, by Silma Subah – a study on the perception of dreams and the impact on waking hours.
Morphic: The Language of Reality, by Sagar Kumar – using music to explain Galilean relativity, general, and special relativity.
Charles, by Emily Loparco – self-made robots – featuring her own robot, Charles.
Calculated Chaos: A Journey of Neurological Magnitude on a Miniscule Level, by Febronia Mansour – how an impulse travels through the brain and the connections that make it so.
The Calm & The Storm: A Study of Color and Perception, by Julia Liu – how color impacts mood in painting.
The Personalization of Medicine: How Nanotechnology Can & Should Be Embraced, by Priyan Pathirana – personalizing medicine through nanotechnology.
“Each and every student,” said Bott, “was dynamic!”
