STEAM For All Club Hosts Passion Exploration Event

Junhee Ryu and Tiffany Wu|February 22, 2019

William Hsieh

Junior Aditya Sasanur and sophomore Ethan Hung introduce the four stations planned for the event, including Math Bingo, Non-Newtonian Fluids, Aluminum Foil Boats and Artistic Points of Interest.

STEAM For All club hosted the February STEAM Exploration Night, a fully student-run event catered to around 40 Irvine elementary students in the science building on Feb. 15 and organized by co-presidents junior Aditya Sasanur and sophomore Ethan Hung.

The event utilized a rotation system with four stations, each featuring an engaging and hands-on activity unique to the Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math aspects of STEAM, such as math equation bingo and creating oobleck.  

“In our event, we’re endorsing STEAM activities in order for kids to explore their passions and discover what sort of people they want to grow into and what sort of field they want to spend their lives working in,” Sasanur said. “I want people who step into this room to step out with more knowledge than they had when they came in and to have fun during the entire process.”

By leading stations and teaching children about STEAM, club members were able to give back to the community in an engaging and interesting manner.

“[My goal for the STEAM For All club is] just giving them the experience of running an event and running little workshops and to learn from that so they can refine it and improve it for next time,” club adviser and science teacher Michael Tang said. “I want them to have roles of leadership and to be able to practice those leadership skills.”

The Irvine branch of Code Ninjas, a company geared toward teaching children how to code, sponsored STEAM For All, which supplied snacks and drinks for attendees.

“As a kid growing up, sometimes you’re exposed to STEAM, but you don’t actually tie it to what STEAM is,” sponsor and manager of Irvine Code Ninjas Jonathan Cheung said. “I think being able to expose younger kids, especially younger than 10-years-old, really has a long term effect because they might think of the word STEAM as fun or exciting, instead of ‘oh it’s so technical, I would never understand it.’”

In the future, STEAM For All hopes to keep the STEAM Exploration Nights recurring with the goal of one event per month, with the next event planned for late March.