Young students learn about career paths in STEAM

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on May 26, 2023.

Herald photo by Alejandra Pulido-Guzman Red seal chef and restaurant owner, Candice Klassen guides Grade 4 students on how to make popcorn spices as part of their STEAM activities Thursday at Our Lady of the Assumption school.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

Our Lady of the Assumption School hosted an action-packed day of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) learning for their students on Thursday.

 Grade 1 and Grade 2 students learned about nuts and bolts, measuring cups, P-traps, marshmallow structures, and robotics.

 Grade 3 and Grade 4 students learned about food preparation, tire pressure and gauges, measuring tape activity, Agricultural drones, and non-contact force.

 Grade 5 and Grade 6 students learned about virtual welding, window casing, wind turbine, irrigation, and bike demolition.

School principal Meghan Calder said it is important to expose students at all levels of education to the different career paths they will be able to take in the future, especially the trades as many are not familiar with them unless someone they know is part of them.

“For the past two years we’ve had one big culminating STEAM day in May where we have all different activities throughout the day, but they’ve always been run by the teachers, and this year I was really inspired by some of our Holy Spirit partners like Southland international, the Lethbridge college and Career Transitions as they really wanted to bring the trades and industry into schools,” said Calder.

 She said traditionally that is something that has always been done in high school, but they came to her in November to talk about a way to inspire elementary school students to learn about the trades, and how the things they are learning in school relate to real world jobs and real-world industry.

 “I’ve been working with Southland, Career Transitions and the college since about January planning this day and trying to find trades and industry partners who can come in and just help us experience all different types of activities, so that’s what we’ve done. We reached out to our parent community, we’ve reached out to partners throughout the community, and we have 15 different activities today,” said Calder.

She said that one of the trades that is really intriguing to students is welding and they wanted to showcase it in a safe way.

 “Through our partnership with the college, they have allowed us to borrow their virtual welder for the day, so all of our Grade 5 and 6 students are getting a chance to try to weld on the virtual welder, without having to worry about safety gear or fire hazards,” said Calder.

 She added that Catholic Central High School welding and fabrication teacher Lance Rosen was there to show them that they do not have to wait until post-secondary to be able to try welding as that is a program offered at the high school level at CCH.

 “And what a great way for students to be exposed to welding, but through our welding instructor and so when they go on to CCH, they’ll know Lance already and they’ll be able to say hey we worked with you and we want to try welding,” said Calder.

Calder said she was very grateful to everyone who took part of the event, especially those who gave their employees the time off to be able to attend as presenters.

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