On Saturday, October 21, 2017, ten Douglas 7th and 8th graders joined 100
middle school students from across the Blackstone Valley at the 10th Annual
STEM Kids Conference, held at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at
Tufts University in North Grafton, MA. The purpose of the conference was to
inspire students to pursue career opportunities in Science, Technology,
Engineering and Math (STEM), while also giving them a taste of college life.
Students each participated in three workshops out of ten available to them:
Building a Military Ration, Candy Bar Battle, Clinical Pathology Lab Detective
Work, Electrophysics of Music, Exploring the Intersection of Veterinary Medicine
and Engineering, Forensic Science, How to be a Dog Doctor, The Incredible Power
of Weather, Making Your Own Video Game, and Why You Should Think Like a
Hacker.
In the afternoon, students enjoyed a keynote presentation from Julia Paxson, an
Associate Professor of Biology at Holy Cross, who discussed the science of
regeneration and answered lots of great student-generated questions.
Concurrently, parents also participated in presentations about early college
planning. The day concluded with a high-energy Van de Graaff generator
demonstration by Mr. Macdonald Andrews, Senior Principal Raytheon Engineer
and Douglas resident. The program was organized and funded by the Blackstone
Valley Education Foundation and the Tufts/Cummings School of Veterinary
Medicine. Funding was also provided by Homefield Credit Union and Southwick’s
Zoo.
7th grade students who attended the program were: Emma Camosse, Kenneth
Horne, Rylee Mitchell, Brianna Taylor, and Tyler Wills. 8th grade students who
attended the program were: Zophia Cherrier, Miranda DeGaetano, Kaleb
Schimmelpenningh, Sarah Stevens, and Joshua Zetlan.