CURENT Visits Two Local Schools for Family Engineering Night

October 11th, 2013

Lake City Elementary School Recap:

The University of Tennessee’s Engineering Research Center, CURENT, teamed up with the Boys & Girls Club of the Tennessee Valley to put on a Family Engineering Night at Lake City Elementary School.

“We’re glad to see so many families learning about engineering and having fun,” said Dr. Polly Johnson, Director of Academic Outcomes at the Boys & Girls Club.

The event connected nearly 150 students and their families to engineering exhibits which included solar cars, paper helicopters and homemade circuits. Students were also able to interact with Clinton High School FIRST Robotics Team’s frisbee-launching robot, which was overseen by teacher Ben Barrington. After each student completed all of the activities, they received an engineering hard hat from CURENT.

“Tonight has been a great opportunity to give back to our community,” Johnson said. “We hope these activities will inspire young people to succeed in school and consider careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields.”

With the help of LCES Principal Henry Baggett, teacher Heather Herrin, and additional faculty, last night’s Family Engineering Night was instrumental in exposing the K-5 Lake City students to engineering. In addition, students were able to see the variety of engineering fields available at each exhibit.

The event was organized by CURENT, Boys & Girls Club of the Tennessee Valley, STEMspark, and Lake City Elementary School. Numerous Anderson County elected officials, including Mayor Terry Frank, were in attendance to offer their support for science education in their local schools.

Green Magnet Academy Recap:

CURENT also held a Family Engineering Night at Green Magnet Academy on Tuesday, October 8th. An estimated 250 people attended the event, which brought students and their families together to work on engineering challenges.

"Family Engineering Night was most certainly a success," said Sandy Morris, the Gifted & Talented Coach at Green Magnet Academy. "I had many staff members say that they have never seen such high attendance and active participation with students and their families as they did last night."

The event was organized by Dr. Chien-fei Chen, Erin Wills, and Adam Hardebeck from CURENT, and by Green Magnet Academy Principal Beth Lackey and Morris.