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Iowa Central to hold STEAMfest

‘We hope to raise awareness of STEM and the arts’

The one thing that visitors probably won’t find when they go to the Iowa Central Community College STEAMfest on Saturday is anything actually powered by steam.

What they will find instead are displays and hands-on activities related to Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics.

The free event, on the Iowa Central campus, is from 1 to 4 p.m.

Kelly Bergman, North Central Iowa Regional STEM manager, said the goal of the festival is to promote, inspire and engage youth in STEAM activities and to introduce students and their parents to STEAM careers.

“We hope to raise awareness of STEM and the arts,” Bergman said. “Especially those that they have in their community. It gives them an opportunity to all STEM and arts and the technology associated with them.”

She said that two area robotics clubs will be on hand and visitors can try driving their robots. There will be a display from the Iowa State University insect zoo, and the staff from the Fort Museum and Frontier Village will help visitors build a terrarium. There will be a virtual roller coaster and the opportunity to fly a small drone. The Blanden Memorial Art Museum will have a potters wheel for people to try as well.

She said that depending on weather, there may also be police and fire department displays outside as well as a radar display.

Bergman would also like to invite local businesses that use technology to attend the inaugural event with the goal of having them on hand for future events to showcase how they use STEAM related processes in their work.

“We would love to have local companies on hand next time,” she said.

The festival is sponsored by Iowa Central, the Fort Dodge Community School District, city of Fort Dodge and the Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council.

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