Upper School Students Plant SEED in Extended Day Program

“Through those opportunities, we realized how important early exposure to STEM can be in helping kids discover their interests and passions,” shared Kiryn. “We also noticed that many younger students do not always have easy access to engaging STEM experiences outside of school. The purpose of this project is to provide accessible, hands-on STEM activities through Extended Day so younger kids can explore science and engineering in a fun way, while hopefully inspiring the same excitement and curiosity that shaped my own interests.”

In our technology-forward world, STEM has become more valuable than ever for students at all grade levels. Kiryn and Samara’s project provides Lower School students with a fun approach to science, technology, engineering, and math outside of the normal classroom setting. They exercise Bush’s philosophy that “students learn best by doing” through their exciting, experiential methods.

“Many students, like me, learn best through experimentation and creativity, which Extended Day allows more time for,” Samara said. “STEM activities can help students build problem-solving, teamwork, and critical thinking skills while also encouraging curiosity and confidence. It also exposes students to topics they may not otherwise experience at a young age, helping them discover interests and passions early on.”

Before graduation, they will develop a STEM curriculum to be integrated into the Extended Day program as an optional activity for Lower School students. Their plan is to provide a range of puzzles, games, and experiments that challenge students in Third through Fifth Grade while ensuring they absorb the lessons being taught in each.  

 

“Each session will begin with a short, engaging presentation introducing the STEM topic in a simple and understandable way, followed by a hands-on experiment or project that allows students to apply what they learned,” Kiryn said. “To make the program sustainable and easy to continue in future years, we will also be creating detailed instruction sheets for each activity that explain the setup, materials, directions, and STEM concepts being taught. In addition, we are putting together a master document that includes all required materials and estimated costs for each project. This will make it easier for Extended Day staff to organize and run the activities independently in the future, allowing the program to continue even after we graduate.”