Middle and high school students were able to put their creative skills to the test at this year’s STEMFORCE workshop at OSU-Tulsa.
Students participating in this year’s workshop combined history and science by creating a scale model of Tulsa’s historic Greenwood District.
These students used science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) to rebuild businesses destroyed in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, and envision new Greenwood businesses for the future.
Students say they were excited to put everything together.
“You get to remember all the buildings that used to be there before they were destroyed, and you get to learn things you’ve probably never learned before,” said 11-year-old Cadine, who started 7th grade. Will do in decline.
Organizers say they wanted the workshop to be a place for students to apply what they know from the school and be creative as well.
“Bring back some of the things they may have learned in their physics class, or they learned in their math class, because we are now less than a month away from starting school,” Sacha Sales said. Vice President of Stemforce.
Organizers expect students to walk away from this year’s camp knowing what they are capable of.
Sales said, “I hope they really get a sense of confidence and pride in the work they’ve done, so just knowing that ‘Hey, I had an idea, and I brought that idea or innovation to life’ “
Students say they are grateful for what they learned.
“If we didn’t really do that, I don’t think we’d have a good experience making things like solar panels with natural energy, and we wouldn’t really know our history and that of Greenwood,” Cadin said.
This is the second year of the STEMFORCE camp and the organizers say they plan to hold another next summer.
