Jessica Webb
editor@thesmokymountaintimes.com
On Tuesday morning, April 30, the Swain Middle School gym was abuzz with activity as students got to explore video games, the Smokies and the stars at the school’s first STEAM Expo.
There was plenty to explore, from Cherokee basket artists and glass blowing and blacksmiths from the Jackson County Green Energy Park (JCGEP) to Swain Cooperative Extension 4-H agent bringing a make your own smoothie bike and PARI bringing a planetarium.
Taylor Rae Dodge Brown, the Gear Up coordinator and academic enrichment advisor, organized the event to help students explore post-secondary aspects of their future. For middle school students, it’s all about exploring.
For the past two years, she brought them on field trips to a STEAM Expo hosted by Appalachian State University, but she wanted to give students something closer to home.
To accomplish it, she reached out to the broader community, inviting universities, environmental agencies and more.
“My goal is to provide as diverse a range as we can,” Dodge Brown said of career ideas—pointing to displays from the forest service to carpentry.
“The goal is to spark curiosity, a love of learning, to put their hands on something. They might just get their hands on a guitar today, and it might spark that interest that carries them through," she said.
At one table, a group of boys were holding hands with one cranking a device that creates a static electricity charge then sends it through another the first student whose hand is on the device.
Keith Bamberger with North Carolina Division of Air Quality explained the focus on electricity and its connection to air quality. For starters, his agency monitors air quality primarily through chemistry.
“The second biggest source of air pollution in our state is electricity,” he said. “In our area, It’s mostly from natural gas.”
SMS seventh grade history teacher Debbie Cloer was pleased to see the students getting involved at the STEAM Expo.
“I love it, it gets the kids outside of the classroom, and they get to do things and see things we can’t offer always offer in class,” Cloer said. “I appreciate the community involvement and the support of the school.”
Eighth-graders Daisy Frizell and Avery Roland appreciated the community’s effort as well.
“I think the experience is really cool. It’s awesome we had all these people come out and do this for us,” Frizell said.
Roland agreed.
“It’s a good experience for our grade level,” she said, adding students all have different interests. “Here they can do whatever they enjoy, they get to pick and choose.”
Outside the gym, amid a background of drab weather, students were watching demos of forging and glass blowing.
Jesse Bolding and Peyton Smith, artists from JCGEP, were encouraging students to ask questions as Bolding shaped a wood cutting chisel.
Draven Shanks was among the students who did ask questions and he had this to say about getting to see the black smithing.
“It was cool. I like outdoor things, so it was interesting to me. I like working with stuff like that. It was one of the most exciting things I was looking forward to seeing today,” he said.