On March 20th, Joseph Melillo Middle School and East Haven Academy middle school students and families gathered at EHHS for a STEM competition night. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. During the competition the 8th graders had to build mouse trap cars, the 7th graders had to build paddle boat powered by rubber bands, and the 6th graders had to build a building that would survive an earthquake.

Mrs. Maria Pompano, EHPS Science Instructional Leader, shared that the goal of the competition was for students to come and get excited about something that they worked hard on. Another positive side of the night is that young students’ families get to come and see their hard work in action. Even if the students don’t win the competition, it’s a good experience for them to compete and have a good time. an opportunity to bring together the different areas of instruction and learning in a collaborative way. Another goal of the STEM competition and STEM classes is to teach children and young adults that there are so many different parts of STEM job opportunities.

This competition in particular highlighted the engineering process for students to learn. They learned to design, build, test, redesign, and complete final tests. The competition allowed all grades 6-8 students to focus on the EHPS Vision of the Graduate skills like powerful and effective communication, collaborating, and being a responsible citizen while they were working together and learning with and from each other.

To organize the event, Mrs. Pompano packaged up supplies and sometimes got help from high school students by offering them community service hours for helping. She lined up judges for each event. The 6-8 grade teachers spend a lot of time and hard work with each of their students to help them be prepared. They come on the day of the event, set up, come back at night, and run the whole event later. They have brochures made and a contest where students design the logo and they order t-shirts with that logo on it. The winner got a 50 gift card.

The Science Instructional Leader before Mrs. Pompano started the STEM competition many years ago. Then, Mrs. Pompano took it over when she got here and this has been her 13th year running this competition. Some teachers here also help like Ms. Bohan, Ms. Riccio, and Mrs. Robinson.

For each grade, three students won. They gave out certificates to all 1st, 2st, and 3rd place winners. 2nd and 3rd got a $5 Amazon gift card and first place got a $10 gift card.