Georgia and South Carolina gifted students the fourth through eighth grades gathered at the Augusta University Summerville campus Saturday, March 26 for the fourth annual STEAMify competition.
This year’s competition was inspired by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) Livable Communities Initiative.
According to its mission statement, AARP Livable Communities supports the efforts of neighborhoods, towns, cities and rural areas to be great places for people of all ages. The goal of the init is to provide safe, walkable streets; age-friendly housing and transportation options; access to needed services; and opportunities for residents of all ages to participate in community life.
Dr. Ashley Gess is an assistant professor of STEAM – science, technology, engineering, arts and math – education at Augusta University and the person responsible for bringing STEAMify to Augusta.
“We want to make sure that every kid is included in really deep and meaningful experiences in classes,” Gess said. “So, what the key is here is that kids have to show how what they’re learning every day is helping them to solve the problem, explicitly connecting what they learn in school to big ideas and big solutions that are real, that they can have a part of.”
Gess said that giving kids an opportunity to participate in a challenge like STEAMify helps them learn that they have the power to make real change.
“How many times did we, as kids, go to school and go, ‘Why does this matter’ or ‘What is this going to do for me?’ Now, we are trying to show them, this is what it does for you,” she said.
According to Gess, another goal is just to get more kids onto a university campus. Her hope is that these young students will feel a sense of belonging and that attending a university like AU will feel more achievable.
Altogether, 68 elementary school teams and 53 middle school teams participated, representing local counties as well as those as far as Forsyth and Fulton.
The competition was comprised of two parts – a long problem and a spontaneous problem.
For the long problem portion of the competition, which accounted for 80% of their score, each team was asked to answer how individuals can contribute toward making our community livable for all through topics ranging from housing to social inclusion and civic participation.
Students were able to answer the problem through team categories including dance, debate, engineering, spoken word, theatre, visual arts, computer science and others.
The Goshen Elementary School visual arts team members said the inspiration for their project came from the Savannah River and how it brings together Georgia and South Carolina through its history, culture and the fellowship of being part of a community.
Another local hopeful, Heritage Academy submitted a visual arts display showcasing a globe opening up around a circle of people holding hands.
Syerra Adams is in the fifth grade at Heritage Academy and part of the visual arts team.
“We were inspired by the people that we see every day,” Adams said. “And I got to do this with a bunch of people I know – my friends. That was the best part for me.”
The team wanted to capture the diversity of the people of Augusta who make up their community with the world holding them all together in what Adams described as a nest.
For the spontaneous challenge, each team was given a problem, selected at random at the time of the competition, to solve within a limited amount of time.
A member of the team would pick a piece of paper out of a bag to learn what challenge they were assigned. These challenges ranged from word puzzles, creating and performing plays or interpretive dance, or building a device that could aim and shoot rubber bands at a target.
Teams were judged primarily on their ability to work together as a team, but also on the success of their ideas.
Winning teams were awarded special experiences in their field of competition, including, but not limited to, an acting session with a Broadway performer, coding kits and a visit to the Textron facility for a day of engineering.
The Grand Prize winners at the elementary and middle school levels each received an Ender 3 3D printer for their school’s gifted classroom.
For more information about the STEAMify competition and for a list of all winning teams for this and past years, click here.
Anna Virella is the newsroom coordinator with The Augusta Press. Reach her at anna@theaugustapress.com.
