It might be summer vacation, but 60 incoming Huntington School District sixth and seventh graders showed they weren’t ready to completely kick-back and forget about the classroom.
Huntington’s STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) Summer Academy gave five dozen students an opportunity to expand their intellectual horizons.
“This is a great opportunity for students and staff to engage in authentic, hands-on STEM learning experiences and have fun doing it during the summer months,” Huntington Superintendent James W. Polansky said. “The feedback from all involved remains overwhelmingly positive!”
Two separate groups of 30 students each spend consecutive weeks meeting at Jack Abrams STEM Magnet School before heading over to Farmingdale State College for hands-on robotics, physics, computer programming and chemistry activities. They even had a chance to participate in an invention challenge project.
Huntington teachers Marybeth Stahl, Keith Mattis, Abigail Simon, Vincent Tannazzo, Matthew Perlongo and Omar Santiago worked with students participating in the program.
“Over the course of the two weeks, a number of students from the Huntington High School robotics team donated their time to help with the program, assisting the kids with projects and helping to spark their interest in STEM disciplines with stories of the robotics team’s competitions.”
The summer program gave participants plenty of opportunities for intellectual growth. “Students worked on hydrogen powered cars, learned how to write their name in binary and got a chance to fly flight simulators at Farmingdale’s aviation school,” Mr. Perlongo said.
