Students From San Diego Participate In STEAM Expo In Long Beach

With the confidence of an 11-year-old going on 30, and the determination of an inventor who tested her creation time-and-time again, Jade Valencia affirms that her robot, Oreo, is meant to be a VEX robotics competition winner. Jade is one of more than 500 students, 20 from SanDiego, participating in this year’s Magnolia Public Schools (MPS) STEAM Expo 2024 held last Saturday, April 27, at the Long Beach Convention Center.

According to school officials, student projects are selected based on their scores in three different competitions. The students must undergo a competitive process to become eligible to participate. For Valencia, this meant after school and weekend workshops.

“I built the robot that was the fastest and easiest to make,” said Valencia, a sixth-grader at Magnolia Science Academy, a middle school in San Diego. “There were a lot of hard things to do along the way. I had to modify the robot a lot…I find challenges fun. If I surpass them then I feel great, but if I don’t I know that this is something I’ve got to work on,” she added.

Twenty students traveled 113 miles from San Diego to Long Beach to participate and compete in this year’s STEAM Expo in areas ranging from math and robotics, to art. San Diego students placed first in math and art categories for middle school, and one of its four robotics teams received second place.

“One of the most important components of our school is that we bring together the best practices of a traditional school education model and innovation, so that we get the best of both worlds,” said Mr. Gokhan Serce, principal at Magnolia Science Academy San Diego. “This beautiful blended learning at our campus and the whole child approach to educating our kids has brought us the California Distinguished School recognition twice, back-to-back. We recognize that students need to be challenged in different areas and given opportunities to test their limits and interests, ” added Serce.

At the Expo, students had a unique opportunity to hear from and meet NASA engineer and astronaut (former), José M. Hernández, who talked about his incredible journey from migrant farmworker to NASA space explorer. Speaking to an audience of more than 500 students and their families, and Magnolia educators, Hernández gave a message of resilience and opportunities created through innovation. He talked about being rejected by NASA 12 times, but persevering by learning new skills that brought him closer to his goal of becoming an astronaut: “Sometimes you have to do things you don’t like in the short-term, to change the end game,” said Hernández.

MPS is a network of 10 tuition-free college preparatory charter public schools in SoCal focused on Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM). All schools are located in high-need areas from the San Fernando Valley to South Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego. Nearly 78% of students are on Free and Reduced Meal programs, 78% are Latino, 15% are students with disabilities, and 20% are English Learners.

“The STEAM Expo presents what is possible in STEAM fields for students living in underserved communities,” said Alfredo Rubalcava, Magnolia Public Schools CEO and Superintendent. “Our students are learning that there are people from our communities doing great things. If they apply the skills they learn at school and events like these, they too will find success in life,” added Rubalcava.

When asked about whether she sees a future in robotics or STEM, Valencia says she’ll try her best to stick with it, “but life is pretty unpredictable, so we’re going to have to wait and see.”

To learn more about the MPS STEAM Expo visit https://www.magnoliapublicschools.org/ and follow MPS on social media: Instagram @magnoliapublicschools, X @magnolia schools, and Facebook @magnoliapublicschools.