Living as a marketing professional in a town literally full of rocket scientists (and about to marry one) makes you appreciate subjects like physics and calculus. Rarely, however, do I get to enjoy these subjects as much as my rocket scientist counterparts.

STEAM Fest at Lowe Mill’s STEAM Fest, this Saturday April 12, 2014, hopes to change all that. It will be a FREE festival bringing together all things science, math and technology together with the arts and all things fun. This all ages event is perfect for engineers and actors alike and requires no advanced science knowledge. Only the willingness to have FUN!

What is STEAM?

Before I go any farther, perhaps I should explain what STEAM Education is all about. STEAM stand for: Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Mathematics.

How Huntsville Does STEAM FEST

As a much lauded geeky city, Huntsville should be able to pull off one heck of a STEAM Festival. And in true STEAM fashion, I’m breaking down your Festival into 5 categories, one for each of the STEAM componets.

Here’s your sneak peak at Lowe Mill’s 2014 STEAM Festival:

S is for Space

You can’t have a STEAM Festival without Huntsville’s largest science attraction, the U.S. Space and Rocket Center.
Activity: Straw rockets experiment: build a rocket, create a hypothesis about how far it will go, fly the rocket and document the results AND hang out with TOPPS!

T is for Technology into art

with Lowe Mill Artist Monica Yother
Activity: Digital illustration demonstration with Photoshop using several styles from detailed drawn illustrations to layered photo manipulation to stylized painting

E is for Electronics 

with Appleton Learning
Activity: Hands-on fun with electronics and magnetic kits. Bonus: walk on water with the oobleck container, a vat full of water and cornstarch.

A is for Art with Robots

with Sci-Quest
Activity: Use simple materials, electric circuits and Mindstorms Lego Robots to create robots that draw

M is for Millenium Falcon

See a full-scale reproduction of the Millenium Falcon created using a CNC machine.

Why STEAM Matters

I’ll let one of the brains behind STEAM Fest tell you why STEAM Education is so important.

“The skills that the children will use at STEAM Fest are the skills needed for the workforce. When kids are creating and experimenting, they think they are playing, and they get excited about science, technology, engineering, art and math,” Rena Anderson, Director of Community Engagement at Huntsville City Schools said.

Rena is right; our kids need to be prepared.

• 80% of jobs in the next decade will require technology skills (Source: Massachusettes STEM Advisory Council)
• By 2018, the US will have 1.2 million job openings in STEM related occupations (Source: Massachusettes STEM Advisory Council)
• The US ranks 25th out of 30 in an international assessment of high school students’ performance in math (Source: US Department of Labor Statistics) 

So no matter what your career, I expect to see you on Saturday getting your science and art on at Lowe Mill! Who knows, you might accidently learn something. Either way, you’ll def have fun!

Event Information: STEAM Fest

Date: Saturday, April 12, 2014
Time: 12-4pm
Location: Lowe Mill water tower parking lot; If rain, activities will be moved inside
Cost: FREE