LIMA, Ohio (WLIO) - STEAM on the Quad is an annual event on Ohio State Lima's campus that invites students to get a hands-on look at all kinds of activities relating to science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math. Overall, Kindergarteners through 8th graders could explore 40 different displays and demonstrations.
Charles River Laboratories has been a sponsor of the event since the beginning, and this year they brought in activities for kids to learn about quite a few topics.
"This polymer sand that I'm going to be demonstrating to the kids is one that is actually what they call resistant to water, or hydrophilic," said Rusty Rush, site manager for Charles River Spencerville. "Another purpose for the sand is that it's used heavily in control of oil spills. It binds to the oil, sinks to the bottom, makes it easier to clean up the oil spills when it's on the ocean."
"I'm doing animal enrichment, because for a lot of animals to live in captivity, they require things for their mental health," said Lisa Ramey. "We're going through several things on also health enrichment, but also mostly mental enrichment, on things that you can do with your pet or give to your pet in order to make sure help you and them stay sane when they're home all day."
"We're going to be showing off how electrical currents kind of work in a very simplistic way - it is basically a tube that emits sounds and lights, and it only does that when you hold both ends at the circuit, showing how the electrical current moves through our bodies through various ways," said Nikolas Emryson-Ampudia. "We're also talking about how there's different things that can also be electrical conductors, but also talking about the difference between conductors and insulators, because those are very distinct different things, and there's a lot of stuff in the world that can be a conductor and an insulator."
Of course the goal was to show students that every day events and objects often have some sort of connection with the world of STEAM, and for those students to maybe consider a career in one of those fields later on in life.
This is a big part of why Charles River has been helping bring this event to life for the last 10 years.
"Getting kids interested in the sciences, whether it's engineering, mathematics, biological science, chemical sciences, we just want to get more kids interested in that," Rush said. "Obviously, being a scientific company ourselves at Charles River, it's important that we get people interested in the sciences, so hopefully one day they might want to work for us."
STEAM on the Quad is held around the end of September every year. More information about the event and where to look for next year's date can be found at lima.osu.edu.
