From February 22 to February 26, Kent Place School celebrated Engineering Week. Events were planned across divisions to encourage students to embrace engineering as a field of study and/or career choice, and expose them to more STEM-based curriculum.

Students participated in a number of events:
• A school-wide visit from Dr. Dean Eppler of NASA, who spoke with the girls about applying his geological expertise to the development and testing of space suits
• A presentation by Optical Engineer Specialist Dr. Kate Medicus, along with the opportunity to participate in a brief Q & A afterwards
• A presentation by Upper School Robo-Dragons robotics team members to all three divisions
• An Upper School advisory tower-building competition and rubber band car race
• A Middle School Rube Goldberg competition between the STEM and Science Olympiad elective classes
• A seventh grade field trip to the Liberty Science Center
• Robotics classes in the Middle School and fifth grade
• The design and creation of bubble wands in the Primary School
• A first grade boat design class

Maura Crowe and Suzanne Carreno-Powers, the STEM coordinators at Kent Place, helped organize the weeklong events. “Engineering Week is an exciting time at Kent Place, during which our students not only increase their awareness of the STEM fields but also immerse themselves in “doing” STEM,” said Ms. Crowe. Added Ms. Carreno-Powers, “Sometimes it only takes one moment or one experience to ignite a lifelong passion. Engineering Week strives to provide our girls with exposure to the excitement and possibilities within the engineering world.”

These opportunities to explore science, technology, engineering and mathematics education expose all students at Kent Place to engineering and showcase the many student opportunities and projects in the Kent Place curriculum.