By: Chiara Dunson, Amrutha Juluri, and Rebekah Tesfaye

All photos taken by Mr. English                                     

On Sunday, January 29th, the Seven Hills Middle school held the third annual STEAM fair. There were forty-fifty eighth and seventh-grade volunteers. Faculty and parent volunteers helped set up stations and kept the fair running smoothly. “I think they learned a lot about different topics, and from what I saw, they had a lot of fun,” said seventh grader Ami Hariharan. Lower school students, K-5, attended the fair to learn about different experiences with science.

“Science is the investigation of the world,” said Mr. Revell, the eighth-grade science teacher. The fair is a way for lower school students and middle schoolers to work together and have interactions. The fair will also give the eighth graders a leadership opportunity. 

“The STEAM fair is a good way for the eighth graders to step up,” Mr. Revell said. During the STEAM fair, there were only four staff members, and the rest were eighth graders. It was an excellent way for 8th-grade students to learn responsibility.

The STEAM fair has been going on for about three years, but it was always a small event. Due to covid, Seven Hills missed one year of the STEAM fair. This year, Mr. Revell hoped the fair would be a much more significant and more organized event. “It was very well put together and organized. Every station had the supplies they needed to conduct the experiments properly,” said eighth grader Ariana Chaudhry.

STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics. Behind each of these characteristics are physics and science. 

The STEAM fair was all about “science in action,” according to Mr. Revell.  There were 15 stations, each representing at least one of these characteristics. Some popular stations, such as Bouncy Ball, Squishy Circuit, and Smack The Number, had fun activities for the kids to try. The kids enjoyed getting prizes after they put their crazy energy into doing activities. The students learned about many different topics and played with various experiments. It gives them a chance to understand experiments as they get older. “But we also kind of looked at it as a move-up day for the elementary school,” said eighth-grade science teacher Mr. Revell.

Although the STEAM Fair was a success, there were some messy stations, and students ran into problems. Sometimes volunteers would be at their stations, but no kids would visit. “We didn’t know what to do sometimes, and it was funny,” said eighth grader Vibu Ramineni. At other stations, there were very messy experiments. At Acids and Bases, the vinegar spilled and got everywhere.

This is the first year the Steam fair was held in the new middle school. Before Covid, the STEAM fair was initially held in Doherty. In the new middle school, lower school parents visited stations with their kids, allowing parents to meet some middle school teachers and interact with volunteers. 

The STEAM fair was a success. It gave kids a chance to learn science, eighth and seventh graders a leadership opportunity, and parents enjoyed seeing science in action.