Event focuses on STEM fun
East High School senior Zane Mollins remotely guided the custom-built “game bot” Riptide back and forth across Esplanade Street.
Across from him, children caught and released brightly colored plastic fish in the grass and volunteers torched giant marshmallows for s’mores — all in the name of STEM.
The Energy Day Festival made its Denver debut Saturday in front of East High School. Although the second day of fall brought clouds and cool temperatures, the pavement in front of the school was filled with families, students and representatives of a handful of companies who work in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Founded in Houston in 2011, the festival’s goal is to provide outreach and education about career opportunities in STEM and various energy fields through events with hands-on activities and demonstrations.
“We want to stress the importance of energy, conservation and efficiency in our daily lives to schools, students and their families,” said the director of Energy Day Denver, Alanna Fishman. “This festival has been so successful in Houston, which is the energy capital of the world, so it only makes sense that the next place for this festival to fall is in Denver, the gateway to energy in the West.”
A group of boys dipped giant makeshift bubble wands into a solution made at the Women’s Energy Network booth and created giant wormlike bubble shapes that floated across the grass.
“It’s amazing how many scientific properties show up in something (like) a bubble,” said volunteer Alan Lindsey. “The kids are learning how detergents and water work together to form something new — in this case, something magical.”
Consumer Energy Alliance and Consumer Energy Education Foundation partnered with Energy 360 and the University of Colorado’s Global Energy Management Program to host the free family-centric event. The bigger goal is to get young people interested in a field that continues to experience a concerning shortage of workers skilled in STEM.
According to a study released by New American Economy in April, Colorado had 15.3 job openings for every unemployed worker in STEM last year, which is near the national ratio of 13 to 1. Fishman said that with the new school year underway, there is no better time to get students thinking about and interacting with the energy process and how it works in Stem-related fields.