Uniting fun and STEAM education with a Seahawk-style celebration

WILMINGTON,NC (WWAY) — UNCW’s Watson College of Education celebrated science, technology, engineering, arts and math this weekend with a family fun day.

Kids of all ages were invited to participate in fun educational activities from pasta building to roller coaster building and also a bit of robotics.

“We [also] have slime or gak where the students actually get to make that,” Professor and Junior Academy Coordinator Angelia Reid-Griffin said. “We are using different types of pigments where some glow in the dark or changes with the texture of your fingers.”

The Junior Seahawk Academy, middle school students with a growing interest in STEAM, were one of the helping hands in Saturday’s event.

“We’re in a world where everything evolves around some form of technology or some type of integration of science, technology, engineering, math so getting students involved early on really helps them for when they get into schools and get into these majors when they come here at UNCW,” Reid-Griffin said.

Reid-Griffin says she wants to bring greater diversity to the world of STEAM.

“Not seeing a lot of minority students and female students who go into these fields, I felt this is a great opportunity to provide opportunities in this community to engage them in STEAM,” Reid-Griffin said.

The North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics also provided a presentation for students.

Reid-Griffin says the next STEAM-related event will be “Literacy Live,” which is scheduled for October 26 at the Watson College of Education on the UNCW campus. Visit their website for more details.