USA Science & Engineering Festival 2018
USA-SCIENCE & ENGINEERING FESTIVAL 2018 – SEE WHERE STEM CAN TAKE YOU
The German International School Washington D.C. was Among Featured Exhibitors and Presenters at USA Science & Engineering Festival 2018
On April 7th and 8th, 2018 the nation’s biggest science festival opened its gates for the 5th time. (This was the GISW’s 3rd year of participation). More than 350,000 visitors were drawn to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in D.C. for the grand finale of the festival’s year-long science celebration. Taking over the entire convention center, the Festival Expo featured over 3,000 hands-on activities showcasing how STEM can take you into the deep blue, into cyberspace, inside the human body, into nature, into outer space and beyond!
The festival featured science celebrities, explorers, astronauts, physicists, inventors, and experts in fields like oceanography, climatology, robotics, medical research, neuroscience, space exploration, artificial intelligence, and more.
“Our … future relies on encouraging more kids to go into STEM careers….We are hoping to capture their imaginations by introducing them to science rock stars and engaging them in real science projects.” explained Marc Schulman, Festival executive director.
That message is consistent with the GISW’s commitment to STEM and MINT. Although the faculty and students were on school break at that time, they did not miss the opportunity to participate in the festival and to showcase our STEM-program.
“How many water droplets fit on a penny?” “Can a paper clip float?” Visitors to our booth figured it out – with hands-on experiments and lively explanations by our motivated students and their teachers, in both German and in English – BILINGUAL!
A big attraction for many kids at the expo was “Georgie” our gecko, who showed off her remarkable skills of clinging to surfaces at unreal angles.
In this way the GISW attracted interest not only to our STEM-program, but also to the German Language School Washington; and new contacts with science institutions in our area were formed.
The GISW is proud to be a recognized part of the Washington science community and the school thanks Ms. Bankert, Ms. Colopy, Dr. Ellenrieder, Ms. Fricke and Mr. Torst for their enormous effort to make our participation in the Science Festival a success once again. But foremost we appreciate the dedication of our students and their parents who were directly involved, answered visitors’ questions and represented our school in a very engaging and effective manner.
Beate Torst, Ann-July E.
