By Munira Alimire
Arts and Entertainment Editor
Munira.Alimire1651@mb.rctc.edu
Every year, nearly 2,000 Rochester area students take part in the STEAM summit held in RCTC’s gym, a career fair geared towards teaching middle and high schoolers about the different careers and opportunities Rochester organizations offer.
This summit was the 10th time the Rochester Chamber Commerce sponsored the event held at RCTC. It was started to address the need being felt today for more workers in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields.
This was the first time the name was changed, however. It went from the STEM Summit to STEAM, to include art and design careers, reflecting the Rochester Chamber of Commerce’s newfound focus on these previously ignored careers.
Several RCTC clubs took part in the event, such as the Physics and Engineering Club. This club had several rather interesting demonstrations, including a cannon that shot out a ping pong ball and had students exclaim with excitement and a spinning stool that explained inertia.
A nearby table advertised RCTC’s computer aided drafting program and allowed students to make their own stickers, while local companies passed out cookies and drinks to get students interested enough to ask more questions. Both strategies worked well!
Companies also set up many interesting demos, ranging from rock-climbing exhibits to giant robots, all in the hopes of piquing the children’s interests and creating a change in their futures.