The Alpine Education Foundation is holding its inaugural STEAM Fair at Joan MacQueen Middle School on March 9, from 10 a.m.- 1 p.m., and it is open to the public. The STEAM Fair will showcase student’s scientific knowledge and innovative creations, with students having the ability to submit an age-appropriate science project or host a vendor booth to share or sell their business products or inventions to attendees. There will be 10 descriptions that students can use to determine their science entries, and judges will be on hand to determine the STEAM Fair outcomes.
Alpine Education Foundation President Jessica Manning Ross said JMMS has a highly developed science and engineering program that has been nationally recognized in competitions. Ross said the Fair has two components, science and the arts.
“We have many students really immersed in engineering and science with programs such as coding, engineering, robotics, and other science interests as well” she said. “We really wanted to create an event to showcase their talents. In addition, we have many kids who are really motivated by the arts. They are sole proprietors of their own businesses. They create their own goods and sell them to the general public, like on Etsy. We wanted to showcase those students as well for their innovation and creativity.
Ross said there will be three judges per panel, with five panels, and they consist of community members.
“We have the chief of the fire department, a police officer, the Alpine Union School District Board of Directors, school principals, the local Kiwanis Club of Alpine president, a Doctor of Psychology, so we have several local community members that have a background in STEAM that will be judging,” she said. “We have created a rubric that is age-specific, so a little more complicated rubric, but the same components for the older children, and the younger children get a more simplified rubric. We will be giving awards to the students based on their scores.”
Ross said the Foundation’s mission is to enrich and enhance the education of the students in the AUSD.
“We do that by providing programs in STEAM components,” she said. “We offer coding and robotics classes every single week to every single student in the district. This starts in T-K and goes up to eighth grade. We offer organic gardening classes to every student, every week, and that is another pathway. We go through many gardening and native plant gardening species. We talk about pollinators, composting, and the kids’ plant from seed and then harvest at the end of the year.”
Ross said the Foundation also provides a music pathway.
“It offers music to every single student from rhythm, percussion and sound, to keyboarding, drumming, and other levels of music,” she said.
As a local nonprofit organization, AEF has provided 50 plus programs and camps, served more than 2,000 students per year, and provides the following programs to students in the community:
AEF Little Learners: STEAM Monthly Story Hour for children ages 1 through 5.
Wheel of Experts STEAM Program including:
Lessons in Music (education through music theory, song, and instruments)
Coding (instruction in basic coding and programing)
Scientific Gardening Labs (hands on botanical and agricultural learning in our 3 site gardens).