Thank you to our Northvail PTA for planning, organizing and hosting Northvail Elementary School’s first STEM Fair on October 14th 2023. The STEM Fair showcased 21 carnival-style STEM games designed and constructed by individuals and groups of Northvail students in grades 3-5. Families who attended the fair had the opportunity to actively engage in play-based learning by enjoying each STEM game and a number of other additional STEM enrichment activity options. Our Northvail Wise Owls designed various games including: Extreme Buzz Wire, Slingshotting, Magnet Ball, Organ Puzzle with Pumping Lung, Lunching to Victory Aircraft, Treat a Pumpkin and Trick a Ghost, Fire Knockout and many more exciting and fun games for our Northvail community!
The students who competed in the STEM Fair began designing their projects over the summer. The Lake Hiawatha library, under the leadership of Kellyanne Healey, partnered with the Northvail PTA to prepare students who were interested in creating projects. Students and families spent time in the library reading books about and designing their projects with assistance from the library staff. Ms. Healey showcased additional STEM games from the “Library of Things” collection for students to play in Northvail’s Media Center during the Fair.
The STEM Fair turnout was a huge success with over 80 families, teachers, parents, and community members who came to Northvail to participate in the fun. In addition to the student projects, students and families painted pumpkins, played a candy engineering game, created origami and tetrahedron structures, and enjoyed temporary tattoos. They also played with the robots created by the NanoGurus who set up an interactive space in the Gym. There were so many options for all ages to have fun with STEM activities and socialize with their peers.
One of the highlights of the event was the STEM Design Egg Drop Contest! Students had the option to create a structure that could protect an egg from being dropped from the bucket of a fire truck. Despite the rain, the Parsippany Troy-Hills District 6 firefighters took each student-designed structure into the bucket of the fire truck and dropped them high from above the top of the school. Students had so much fun watching the egg drops and discovering whether or not their egg survived the drop.
A very special thank you to Mr. Ken Lyons, Director of the Terra North Jersey STEM Fair for his guidance and support throughout the process of planning and hosting the event. Also, a very special “hoot-out” thank you to the student volunteers from Parsippany High School, the Parsippany District 6 Fire Department, Lake Hiawatha library, PTA parents, Northvail teachers & staff, our STEM judges, Mrs. Kwan, Nanogurus, and many of the sponsorships and donations from large and local businesses including Liberty Science Center, Parsippany PAL, Terra Science & Education, Kumon, Mathnasium, VSA Future, Cerbos, Singas, Shoprite, Foodtown, Wegmans, and UPS.
Thank you for making this a wonderful Wise Owl event!
Dr. Natalie Betz
Principal, Northvail Elementary School
(above) Grand Prize Winner Aarav Pandiya
