Oak Forest HS Students Attend STEM Competition

Oak Forest High School science and technology students learned about STEM at the Bremen High School District 228 STEM Competition held at South Suburban College. Students who participated were: (Top row, l to r): Oak Forest High School Science teacher Jamie Matys, Dylan Glas, Rich Tallon, Nick Lambros, Michael Letten, Hoa Ho, Eric Mercado, Sam Rabuck, Cecilio Urquizo, Peter Lambros, Trevor Loew, Julian Ramirez, Jake Stocks, Vinny Tancredi, Zack Olkiewicz, Mohammed Murrar, Zane Madhi, Stephen Damon, Alyssa Pacella, Mrs. Cindy O’Donovan, (First row, l to r): Oak Forest High School teacher Vivian Turek, Maddie McErlean, Maddie Tancredi, Maddy Hayes, Tim Moran, Sydney Alexander, Casey McMurray, Amy Nayi, and Oak Forest High School teachers Joanne Hellinga and Dan Brown. Students from all four district schools (Bremen, Tinley Park, Hillcrest and Oak Forest High Schools) participated from Integrated Physics, Honors Physics and Industrial Technology classes. Oak Forest High School teachers Mrs. Turek, Mrs. Hellinga, and Mrs. Matys led the Physics students while Mr. Dan Brown inspired the IT students at the STEM Competition. STEM, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, is a education initiative in which subjects that feed into high tech fields get earlier exposure to students and leads to higher success in these subjects. Students from all four schools brought STEM inspired projects made in class which included: Trebuchets, CO₂ cars, rockets, mass bridges and in the later portion of the day students were put in groups for break out sessions to build wind turbines, robotic cranes, mousetrap cars, and EQ proof structures. The students had many successes and experienced a true sense of science and engineering.