STEM club gives middle schoolers chance to harness solar power
Excerpt: The second session of the Southeast Ventura County YMCA STEM Club for local middle schoolers began Jan. 19 online.
The session, in conjunction with the Columbia Memorial Space Center, will cover solar chemistry and run through March 26.
Middle school students meet online from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday.
“This unit gives participants hands-on opportunities to learn how we are harnessing the power of solar energy on our planet,” said Tori Cusack, the Y’s enrichment classes director. “STEM programs like these encourage the next generations to think big.”
A third and final unit of the program, “ 3D Printing and Robotics,” will take place from April 12 through June 18.
The STEM Club units were designed by staff from the Columbia Memorial Space Center in Downey.
The center opened in 2009 and is recognized as the national memorial to the space shuttle Columbia and its crew that were lost in 2003. Columbia staff members lead the YMCA STEM Club meetings.
STEM Club is available to all YMCA members and nonmembers in the local community.