On Wednesday, April 4th, Quartz Hill High School held a STEM expo in the Big Gym. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math. The expo was an opportunity for many students to showcase their ideas and projects. There were seven categories that students could have entered: environmental and agricultural, invention, reverse engineering, robotics and computer science, Rube Goldberg, science fiction, and scientific inquiry.

There were about sixty-five students that participated. Students were allowed to create projects to exhibit by themselves, in pairs, or even trios. Most participated in the expo for three main reasons: the first simply being for fun, the second being for a good challenge and a chance to exhibit their creativity and ideas, and the third being for extra credit.

A surprisingly large amount of students participated in the expo for extra credit. Many science teachers offered credit or other academic perks for any student who participated and scored a three or a four.

The projects at the expo were scored on a five point rubric. Each category’s rubric varied slightly, but they were all the same in concept. Students participating in each category were required to prepare a log book written with information about the project’s process, a tri-fold poster board to present the information, and a printed page describing their project. All students were also all judged on their oral presentation of their project.

Participant Gabriela Galvan said, “The STEM expo is really exciting. It shows off the best of the students at QHHS. It was very interesting to see what everyone came up with. The expo was a blast!”

Nassim Tavakoli, the first place winner of her category, said, “Participating in the STEM expo was very fun. I learned a lot, and I am very excited to be participating in the district expo.”

There were many judges scattered around the big gym, and students waited patiently around their projects for them to come around. Students’ projects were judged a maximum of three times and at the very least one time. The score of each student’s project was calculated by the average score.

Students who scored first, second, or third in their category are allowed to participate in the district wide STEM expo. This STEM expo will be held April 21st from 10am-12pm. Each student once again will be judged using the same rubric, but this time the first place winner of each category wins a Kindle Fire, while the first place winners overall win MacBook Airs.

Good luck to every student choosing to participate in the district STEM Expo!