Student life doesn’t only consist of school work and sports. Social relationships and activities are crucial parts of school life as well, helping students to stay motivated and engaged in their passions. Grier offers diverse clubs and activities, many of which are STEM related such as NSTEM Club and Engineering Club. These clubs help foster a love for STEM subjects and provide students ways outside of class to deepen their learning.
NSTEM club stands for National STEM Honors Society, which requires participating students to have a minimum GPA of 3.0 in all STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) courses and at least 360 STEM classroom hours for all high school students. This criteria makes students who enroll in this society more engaged in the club activities and contributes to the overall STEM community.
Recently, NSTEM Club sponsored a Carnegie Mellon University trip on April 27th. They also attended a CubeSats workshop series at Saint Francis University that spanned three dates from September to April. This workshop pushed the students to learn about satellites and physical principles of air science. Students analyzed and manipulated data relating to what students learned using an Arduino board. This device can be connected to a computer and the data plotted onto a graph with the help of some coding techniques.
The Engineering Club also had a busy and exciting year. They hosted an online zoom lecture with a Harvard professor, who discussed physics, engineering, and her past experiments. It was a meaningful time for the participants as it opened up their curiosity regarding physical science. The Engineering Club is even planning to participate in events over the summer. They are participating in the Rube Goldberg machine competition taking place on July 4th, in which they will brainstorm the set-up, ideas, and parts of a machine of their own creation.
Even the Business Club was getting in on the STEM love this year, although not usually STEM related. For the Global Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge on April 12, the participants built up their own business dealing with pollution problems in the clothing industry before and after the clothing production. They researched how fabrics pollute the water and the overall environment and established statistical data of financial assets. The participants organized a business plan, company description, and generated a creative box filled with exciting prizes for customers in preparation to record a three minute video to introduce their business.
Experiencing club activities like these allow Grier students to accomplish goals and learn about new topics, exploring possible paths for their future even if they haven’t discovered their potential yet. Furthermore, club involvement helps students socialize with fellow members and become inspired by one another. The Grier community has a more vibrant and enriching student life because of club activities.
NOT STEM RELATED