By Alana Frank
Theme Editor
Mira Costa Technology and Engineering Department presented Costa’s annual Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Night on May 25 in Costa’s gym to showcase STEM clubs, programs and companies.
STEM Night displayed numerous booths, including student-run clubs, classes and outside organizations. The booths featured the theme of “STEAMing Ahead” and ranged from topics such as art, science, technology, engineering and math.
Community members visit the numerous booths at Mira Costa Stem Night in the gym on May 25. The booths ranged from aerospace, chemistry, biotechnology, robotics, and engineering.
“I’m co-president of the Future of STEM Club and it was so fun having a booth at STEM Night,” said junior Ashna Patel. “The reason I like STEM Night is because all types of clubs, companies and organizations come together to share opportunities and information.”
STEM Night also focused on several subtopics. For example, a local bakery, Tommy and Atticus, demonstrated the science of baking a loaf of bread, and the Grades of Green Club educated attendees on the damage fast-fashion causes to the environment.
“STEM Night was very informational and I learned a lot about different topics such as aerospace and coding,” said junior Kylie McGarry. “It was cool to see how many people contributed and came to the event.”
STEM Night involved demonstrations and interactive projects for kids of all ages, but mainly catered to students in elementary and middle school. For example, one student-run booth by VEX robotics included robots that played games with kids, like basketball or frisbee.
“I loved seeing the robot that shot basketballs,” said junior Juju O’Brien. “I play basketball, so it was cool to see that my fellow students were able to build such an elaborate and effective machine like that.”
Costa classes such as Physiology and Anatomy, AP Chemistry and AP Biology also held student-run booths to promote their classes at STEM night. According to junior Claire Koerber, the AP Biology booth featured posters explaining past labs the class did throughout the year.
“I created a poster explaining the process of gel electrophoresis and the way scientists use this in the world today,” said Koerber. “A lot of younger students get really excited about learning science when they hear of all the awesome labs we participate in during the year, and it’s great to see them take interest in what we learned.”
STEM Night also featured several outside organizations such as Delta, Beach Cities Robotics, Northrop Grumman, El Camino Community College and more. Companies like Chevron and Aerospace showed off new inventions, such as technological devices.
“STEM Night is always such a joy to participate in,” said aerospace engineer Joanna Cardema. “Our goal is to not only spark interest in science, but to meet people who are working in engineering jobs and look at their technological accomplishments.”
According to Vice Principal Amanda Vavao, the majority of the event’s organization came from STEM Teachers on special assignment (TOSA) Tayna Sanchez. Along with the PTSA and MBEF, Vavao and Sanchez agreed on the “STEAMing Ahead” theme and coordinated with each presenter/booth.
“Our hope for STEM Night was for incoming and current MCHS students to see all the wonderful courses and activities that MCHS has to offer in STEAM,” said Vavao. “For our graduating seniors and juniors who are planning their ‘beyond,’ our goal was to give them inspiration about what the community has to offer after high school if they choose to pursue a job/career in STEAM.”
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