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HILLSBOROUGH: STEM sells kids on extra school day

By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
   More than 340 Hillsborough intermediate school kids went to school an extra day last week.
   Get this — they wanted to.
   A huge turnout participated Saturday in the Home School Association’s STEM Summit at the Auten Road School.
   They arrived at 8:45 a.m. and left after 1:30 p.m. In that time, they had their choice of more chances to test their brains in topics in science, technology, engineering and math.
   In the morning, students attended three 50-minute programs, many given multiple times by Hillsborough residents, who volunteered their time. The 14 topics included climate change, building your own computer, quick mental math, radio waves, nature in the backyard and viewing stars.
   The high school Environmental Club showed kids how they could help the planet Earth by reducing their carbon footprint.
   A hit was explanations of fingerprints, footprint mold impressions and lie-detector tests in a CSI (crime scene investigation) lab by township police detectives Trevor Oldenburg and Richard Evans.
   All the kids oohed and aahed as the high school robotics club showed off their robot’s ability to shoot foam basketballs into court’s nets.
   After sitting and listening, students participated in an hour-long “challenge” of their choice.
   One gym’s floor became littered with paper airplanes of students taking the aerodynamic challenge.
   In the cafeteria, students used plastic straws, paper clips and tape to build the sturdiest bridge as determined by tests with nails.
   Students in the other gym used similar materials to produce packaging that could survive a drop from a stepladder without breaking its cargo — an egg.
   Gizella Szegedy, chairwoman of the summit committee, said she made a video that aired in the school’s science classrooms. She said it may have led to the highest interest in the summit in years.