Last month, students taking part in Urban League of Palm Beach County’s youth and education programs learned about engineering and made plans for summer learning.

First, they created their own functional cars using minimal materials such as straws, cardboard, paper plates, tape and a balloon.

The goal of the activity was to get students to engineer a car that is propelled by a balloon to move it forward. After each car was assembled, the classroom chairs and desks were moved to create a makeshift racetrack to see which car was the fastest.

Then, to wrap up the 2021 – 2022 school year, our students enjoyed an end of the year celebration where they ate and reflected over the past year’s events.

During the festivities, each student earned a certificate for completing the program as well as wrote thank-you notes to our generous FPL funder.

Before leaving, one of the students, Alijandra Stephens, asked about our plans for the summer and asked if we were coming back next year. 

Sydney, the program manager, told her how FPL STEM Ready will be partnering with Roosevelt Middle during the summer months to bring a summer camp for interested students.

Sydney added this year’s summer theme will be modeled after Dr. Ben Carson’s book Gifted Hands and that FPL STEM Ready will be going to the school twice a week to host experiments as well as facilitate discussions around STEM careers.