Jason Zhao, junior, explains to Akshat Reemiz, fourth grader, about high-powered rocketry during his first STEM Night. As a part of the rocketry team, Astral Orbit, Zhao works on the engineering process of building high-powered rockets. “I like working with high-powered rockets because I want to pursue a career in rocketry someday. Many of the rockets used by NASA are high-powered rockets that I want to work with,” Zhao said.

Everette Goyle, first grader, controls the Baryons’ robot. This year, the challenge for robotics teams as part of the FIRST robotics league is to connect poles on the field and then control the robot to lift their team-colored cones and put them through the poles. “It was a fun and new experience to move the robot and pick the cone up to put it on top of the pole,” Goyle said.

Arush Muthuraman, third grader, attaches clips onto a cardboard square within a time limit of 15 seconds. This activity is designed to test the highest speed at which a person can attach clips to the square with either the left or right hand. “It was fun because I was trying something new and using my left hand to do something,” Muthuraman said.

Fifth graders Gabriel Ikpe and Dhathri Kolli program and tinker with a robot through an app known as “Spike Prime” on a field board. Ikpe and Kolli coded the robot to fulfill different tasks and missions like picking up an object. “I loved meeting new people here and seeing that we can all do great things together,” Ikpe said.

Anna Drendel, zoologist for the St. Louis Zoo, talks to Catalina Rosso, fifth grader, about the importance of keeping animals like turtles safe in today’s world. Drendel’s work primarily consists of teaching people about how to keep animals safe. “Conserving nature definitely starts with teaching the younger generation of it,” Drendel said.

Mehul Mushuni, freshman, worked with Sara Sorout, first grader, to teach her how to recycle paper. Mushuni’s role was to show Sorout how to strain out the water from the wet paper in order for it to dry out faster. “I enjoy teaching people how to recycle because it’s beneficial for our environment,” Mushuni said.

Grace Liu, first grader, tinkers with the snap circuit activity at the Science Olympiad booth. Grace enjoys trying new things in science, especially if they are challenging. “I like playing with the circuit because it’s interesting, cool and fun,” Liu said.

Sanjay Ishaanalur, sixth grader, plays with a custom video game made by a student at Webster University. Ishaanalur has been interested in video games for a long time, and he was impressed with what he played. “I really like the game and the graphics. In this game, you get to choose the way you play and it looks realistic,” Ishaanalur said.

Marley Hollman, third grader, plays a mathematical game with blocks. The game is designed to show simple math in a visual way. “It was fun to play the game. I don’t even like math that much, but this game makes math funner,” Hollman said.