Bright futures STEM from charitable community event

Kayli Miller
In Motion Staff Writer

Energetic, smiling children out of bed early on a Saturday morning were eager to learn at the STEM day event in the first week of March, starting at 9 a.m. at the Dickerson Community Center near Daytona State College.

Hosted by Jack and Jill of America, Inc., Daytona Beach Area Chapter and the Boys and Girls Club of Daytona Beach, this charitable event brought together faculty from DSC, Bethune-Cookman University and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to teach children grades 2-5 about STEM.

According to DSC math professor Lakisha Holmes, who is principle investigator of the STEM Community Scholars Program, “STEM day is a nationwide initiative trying to support children and increase their interest in science, technology, engineering and math. We are trying to do our part in giving back to the communities that need it the most.”

Some 60 children spent the morning rotating between six stations where local professors performed various interactive educational demonstrations. Professor Brianna Kurtz, from the School of Mathematics at DSC, ran one of the six activity stations called “Shuffle, Roll, Change,” where she taught the concept of probability with dice and card games. “Moral victory high fives” were playfully distributed by Kurtz to the children who continued the game even after they had not placed for a prize.

For Kurtz, “STEM day is an opportunity to get kids excited about science and math. To show them math can be fun.”

Kurtz believes “If we can get this many kids up on a Saturday at this hour, who knows? Maybe one day they’ll be our students at Daytona State.”

Other stations included “How Do We Fly?” led by another math professor, Robert Dwarika. Among other stations was “How to Become a Billionaire,” with Embry-Riddle professors Jenny Hinebaugh and John Ledgerwood.

The event gave Dwarika a chance to answer a question so frequently posed by his students. “I teach math for a living and I always get asked ‘when am I ever going to use this?’’’ Dwarika was eager to provide answers that intrigued and entertained blossoming minds.

In addition to the faculty, parent volunteers assisted in organizing this philanthropic event. One parent volunteer, Tionis Fordham explained why she chose to enroll her child in the program.

“If you look at where the jobs are going to be in the future, they are going to be in STEM. It’s an excellent program for children to do something educational and fun, especially on a weekend. You can tell they are having a blast,” said Fordham. According to Holmes, the goal of STEM day can be put into two words. “Engage and expose,” Holmes said, “We want to engage and expose the children to STEM as much as possible.”