On Thursday, March 14, eleven Byron-Bergen fifth grade students and seven Senior High School students in grades 9 through 11 joined hundreds of others from Genesee, Livingston, Orleans, and Wyoming Counties at Genesee Community College for STEAM JAM and Tech Wars.
Tech Wars, now in its twelfth year, annually invites students to compete in activities to challenge their innovation, creativity, and resourcefulness. Jr./Sr. High School Technology Teacher Jay Wolcott, who has a background in commercial manufacturing, was one of the originators of the competition and annually judges the SUMO bots event. Other events include CO2 car races, architectural CAD design, logo design, and the regatta – during which students ride full-size cardboard boats across the GCC pool.
First-year Sr. High School Technology Teacher Meshari Alnouri attended his first Tech Wars this year. Although mostly there to observe and become familiar with the events, his students participated in the High School Mystery Event.
STEAM Jam is a new event with ninety Elementary School student participants from eight districts. It is the collaborative project of the regional STEAM teachers' cohort. Byron-Bergen STEAM Lab teacher Craig Schroth was one of the driving forces behind this year's event.
The STEAM Jam challenges asked students to use design to create a swag item incorporating their school logo and an LED light, construct a tower out of cardboard boxes capable of supporting a toy basketball hoop and surviving a "slam dunk," and code a robot to launch a ball through a hoop from various positions.
Above, Jay Wolcott and Meshari Alnouri.