UTICA — The goal of Friday’s STEM Fest at Mohawk Valley Community College was to get area students to “think of themselves as science people,” MVCC Dean of the School of STEM-Transfer Jake Mihevc said.

“This is an exploration of science for local elementary students,” he explained. “Our faculty and Future Engineers Club created a series of experiments for kids to enjoy and discover science.”

(See this video of students learning about STEM Fest.)

The event will be repeated — and open to the public — from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, March 25 in Francis A. Wilcox Hall at MVCC’s Utica campus, 1101 Sherman Drive. There will be something there for all ages to enjoy and learn from, promised MVCC Physics Professor Shahid Dar.

The STEM Fest invited sixth graders from nearby Columbus Elementary School to come out to the college for a series of science experiments and demonstrations led by MVCC faculty, staff and students. The lobbies of Wilcox Hall became a STEM showcase for the event, giving student a hands-on chance to explore science, technology, engineering and mathematics — and more.  

Dar said the event started when there was a buzz about incoming nanotechnology in the area. They created the Nano Fest at that point, and that morphed into the STEM Fest of today to reflect how they focus on much more than just nano now.

MVCC first-year engineering science major Sawyer Locke of Holland Patent showed the students how to make instant snow by combining sodium polyacrylate with water. The water was absorbed and all that was left in their cups was “snow.”

“This gives the kids an interactive way to get them excited about science,” he said. “They can learn while having fun.”

Brandon Massett of Rome, an MVCC second-year physics and engineering science major, showed the students an experiment to create “oobleck” — a suspension of cornstarch and water that will feel like either a solid or a liquid depending on the pressure placed on it.

“I am a really big fan of physics and I like showing it off,” Massett said.

Welcoming the elementary schoolers might lead not only to their future MVCC enrollment but also to them becoming future scientists as well, Dar said.

“You never know who you are going to inspire,” she noted.