Grand Valley hosted hundreds of K-12 students on the last two weekends for events that explore and celebrate STEM.
GVSU faculty and staff members also played key roles in organizing and carrying out the Region 12 Michigan Science Olympiad and the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics West Michigan Regional Competition.
The Region 12 Michigan Science Olympiad on March 21 was a competition for middle and high school students to participate in interactive events in biology, chemistry, physics and engineering.
Classrooms in Kindschi and Padnos halls became an intensely focused environment, with young scientists working under pressure to accomplish their given tasks.
Chloe Rymal, an interdisciplinary engineering major, volunteered at the event. As the president of Grand Valley's chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers, Rymal said she chose to help out because of Science Olympiad's mission of serving community.
“I just love seeing kids being involved in science," Ryman said. "Seeing that a love for science is still alive, that people are still interested in it, and how Science Olympiad has grown is very intriguing and makes me very hopeful for the future.”
Malaina Olivarez and Isabel Dillbeck, sophomores at Forest Hills Northern High School, each participated in three events spanning experimental design, machines, bungee drop, entomology, forensics, and rocks and minerals.
“Experimental design went really well,” said Malaina. “We were moving along really smoothly and I felt like I understood everything.” That event hinged on the participants' ability to design, conduct and report the findings of an experiment directly on-site.
This was not Malaina’s first time on the team, but it was her first time attending the competition at Grand Valley. It was Isabel’s fourth year competing.
“I’ve had to work with people whose names I barely even know," she said. "That has definitely made me better at working with people, even though I don’t really know them well."
Malaina said she enjoys Science Olympiad because it allows students to explore subjects beyond the classroom. “It gives you a chance to learn a bunch of new subjects and you can learn and make mistakes without worrying about a grade,” she said.
Both students said they plan to go into STEM fields.
“My events don’t fully align with what I want to do in the future, because I want to go into pediatrics,” Malaina said. “But it gives me skills that I could use, like working under pressure, or under tight timelines.”
Forty teams participated in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics West Michigan Regional Competition March 27-28 at the Fieldhouse.
Each year, robotics teams across the country design, build and program their robots to compete in the same game. This year, the game saw two alliances competing to score fuel, in the form of yellow balls, into their hubs, or tall goals. For the first 20 seconds, robots performed autonomously to collect and score fuel. For the remaining 140 seconds, participants directly controlled their robots.
Mackenzie Meyer, K-12 outreach coordinator for the Padnos College of Engineering, interacted with participants throughout the event.
“I really enjoy seeing students genuinely excited about something in a wholesome way that’s extracurricular — away from screens, still academic, but not necessarily in a school,” said Meyer. “It really gives a sense of community for students; they find family with each other.”
Aarush Vemury is a member of “The Charge,” a team from Herbert Henry Dow High School in Midland. Aarush was first inspired to participate in robotics after attending his older brother’s competitions, which led him to start participating in the fourth grade.
“It’s really nice to be out on the field with all my people supporting me over there,” Aarush said. “It’s really nice and a really fun experience.”
He said that for his team to be successful, they need to support each other and communicate well.
“Honestly, this has made me learn the importance of teamwork. We have a lot of different subgroups, like programming and data analysis, so you have to combine your knowledge and really talk to each other," Aarush said. "Communication is a really important part of this."
— Sofia Ellis, a senior majoring in writing, is a student writer for University Communications.
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