More than 400 parents and students attended Tuesday's S.T.E.A.M. Night at Conrady Junior High School where creating slime, colors and velocity seemed to be among the more popular hands-on activities.
Rokas Kanaporis begged his dad Giedrius all week to attend the Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math event. The Dorn kindergartner said he "loves making slime and likes the way it feels." "It's slimey, slippery and it's cold," said Rokas, 6, who was there with his dad and sister Ula (who made pink slime). "I just like making it and I like the color I made (lime green)."
Parents and their students crowded into the 25 classrooms (and gym) that were used as makeshift science labs with as many teachers from throughout the district leading the activities. Making slime was so popular, in fact, that three classrooms were designated for that use.
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Conrady team leader Adie McHugh - along with her son, Carter, 14, and daughter, Chloe, 13, both students at Grissom Junior High School in Tinley Park where they reside - assisted in showing how to make slime.
Nicole Guest, a teacher at Glen Oaks School, was building marble runs to show how to solve problems about velocity. Brothers Adam Mihyar, 2, and Ahmad, 3, were fascinated with the marbles and how fast they rolled down the plastic tubes.
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Mrs. Guest urged them to build the structure higher so the marbles would travel faster. Wesam Alhawamdeh, the boys' mom, said she enjoyed the evening because it "allows her boys to get out and play."
Ramiro and Suzie Lopez were there with daughters Gabby, 11, and Gisele, 8. The family stopped by Room 21 to participate in the "Magic Milk and Dancing Pepper" experiment where teachers Jen Mackey and Aneese Zayid showed how properties of liquids change when you add soap.
"Gisele really likes science and this is hands-on," Ramiro said. "She also really enjoys doing experiments."
Suzie said seeing the experiments up-close like this is "way better than watching it on YouTube."
Ramiro said his daughter, Gabby, will be a sixth grader at Conrady next year where she can select an elective. "She really likes STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) classes and this event allows her to see for herself some of the classes she can select. This is a great event they have for the kids and their parents."
