Sophomore STEAM students celebrated a year of engineering, creativity and innovation with an exciting STEAM Expo. In Ma’ayanot’s “Making a Difference” program, sophomore STEAM students created a personalized device for students with visual impairment or other learning challenges. Before presenting their devices to their designated child, they showcased their projects to family members and fellow students, enjoyed an exciting STEAM-based game show by Digital Dov, and got a sneak peek of the STEAM film being produced by the Ma’ayanot Media Makers, which documents the sophomores’ journey in creating their devices. Esther Slomnicki, Ma’ayanot’s STEAM programming coordinator, who orchestrated the event, exclaimed, “The evening was a symphony of technology, empathy and nachat!”
“Making a Difference” combines engineering ingenuity with Torah values. Reyce Krause, STEAM curriculum director, notes that according to Rav Soloveitchik, human creativity is part of our divine mandate to imitate God. God also is giving by nature, and Krause empowers her students to use their skills to give to others. As freshmen, STEAM students learn fundamentals of design, coding and fabrication as part of Ma’ayanot’s core curriculum. “By sophomore year,” explains Krause, “students are poised to be creators.”
Ma’ayanot has expanded its partnership to three schools: Tthe School for Children with Hidden Intelligence in Lakewood, Elmwood School in Rockland County and The Jewels School in Baltimore. STEAM instructor Gill Cofnas and STEAM Department Chair Gila Stein also presented Ma’ayanot’s incorporation of social responsibility into STEAM at the International Technology and Engineering Educators Association conference in March, hoping to inspire other schools to emulate Ma’ayanot’s pioneering program.
Sophomores agreed that the process was challenging, yet very rewarding: “We are giving projects to our students, and we are getting something too—a sense of accomplishment!” Added sophomore Noa Chen, “It’s impactful to build something ourselves and to personalize it to help a fellow Jew.” The freshmen classes, invited to view the projects, emerged impressed: “We saw such cool things. We look forward to the amazing opportunity we will have next year!”
