Mission STEMPossible

A Detroit-themed cardboard maze towered over the 800 fourth-grade students attending United Way for Southeastern Michigan’s annual STEMPossible Symposium, presented by Fifth Third Foundation.

Racing to the finish line with a self-drawn map, Cornerstone Elementary student Sofyia G. jumped for joy when she realized she was first.

“I did it, I did it again,” exclaimed Sofyia. “Our map was easy to follow; I just had to turn a bit.”

On the top floor of the Michigan Science Center, this A-mazing Coding Communication activity taught students coding fundamentals, like the importance of giving clear and descriptive instructions.

“Activities like these make coding easy to understand,” said John Whitley, a volunteer from Nutanix. “The kids learn that it exists and they can do it when they get older.”

This was the first year of STEMPossible for Cornerstone Elementary and four other schools including Erickson Elementary in Ypsilanti, Myers Elementary in Taylor, Rogers Elementary in Pontiac and Thompson K-8 in Southfield. Seven additional schools returned for another year of fun and learning from Hazel Park, Ferndale, Waterford and Detroit.

Thank you to Tech United, our Presenting Sponsor, Fifth Third; our Diamond Sponsors: Ally, Kyndryl and Verizon, our Platinum Sponsor: Rocket Community Fund, our Gold sponsors: Deloitte and PHINIA, 14 additional sponsors and the more than 150 volunteers who made today possible.

“It’s helping the community— thinking about the next generation and what they need to learn,” said Gary Andres, a volunteer from Nutanix. “If they have exposure at early age, it could set them on a course and ideally, give them opportunities they didn’t have before.”

FIRST TIMERS

Erickson Elementary is the first Ypsilanti school to experience STEMPossible. Teacher Allison Crowley explained the impact it was making on her students.

“It’s amazing, they’re so much more interested and engaged,” said Allison. “It’s super fun for them to see what we are doing on a smaller scale at school on a big scale.”

Standing by the marble run wall, Allison watched as one student carefully changed the magnetic marble route using trial and error to accomplish his goal.

“Like right here, this kid has not left this station once— he’s been over here redeveloping his path,” said Allison. “It’s just been exciting to see his brain run.”

At an electrical circuit station, Hoover Elementary School teacher Kristin Houston was in a similar position. Although her students have seen the Michigan Science Center before, it was never during STEMPossible.

“The other trip that we take here is a free-for-all, so they’ll run around everywhere and after a while, they get a little bored,” said Kristin. “This is nice because of all the little activities that keep them engaged.”

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