In its fourth annual Engineering Night, Custer Elementary School welcomed almost 500 people to a “Night at the STEAM Museum” Tuesday as the school showcased not only its engineering curriculum and student projects as in years prior, but opened up activities for visitors which allowed families to see the great things their students are up to. Custer principal Lisa McLaughlin was excited to show the community everything its school does to study and celebrate Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics.

“There’s just so much that people don’t see,” she said. “I’ll meet with people and explain all of the things we do and they’ll respond, ‘Wait, you do that at Custer?’”

If any of those people were able to see all of the student projects and interactive activities, they would be amazed at all of the things that Custer Cougars are learning and producing. Down hall four, in the STEAM lab, and in the computer lab, students from every grade showcased their STEAM projects, which each student completes.

“There are so many rooms that our families get to see tonight,” Mrs. McLaughlin said. “You know, there’s so much going on and it’s just a great night.”

From robot coding projects to buoyancy projects and a 3D printer producing fidget spinners, students were given an opportunity to learn from each other and teacher their families the fascinating topics they learn every day.

“I love trying the experiments and learning from my mistakes,” Xzander McCoy, Custer third-grader said. For his project, Xzander painted a ceiling tile centered around fractions. He and his mother, Amanda McCoy, said that they have never missed an engineering night.

“Xzander loves engineering night,” she said. “We do it every year.”

With all of the new activities, engineering night at Custer will only continue to grow, just like the school’s STEAM curriculum.

“We were excited to show people the STEAM lab. It’s my baby,” said Mrs. McLaughlin. “Teachers can bring their students down to the lab and the experiments will all be ready. All they have to do is teach the lesson and the students can do the experiments there.”

“Events like this are an example of Monroe Public Schools’ commitment to STEAM and CTE programs that are fun and engaging,” Monroe Public Schools superintendent Julie Everly said. “It is great to see families share in their students learning and see the great activities and opportunities our schools provide for them.”

After families could peruse the projects, there were also interactive stations that everyone could enjoy, including the “Let It Fly” catapult challenge, where families were given a lesson about projectiles and then were given time to build their own catapult to see how far they could launch a cotton ball.

In hall 3, various rooms were opened for families to participate in “Free Build” time, in which they could build with various materials together. Across the hall in the gym staff had assembled a Maker-Space station. Families could assemble soap-box cars from washers, binder clips, and cardboard, structures from toothpicks and marshmallows, and marble mazes from plates and straws, among other activities. The Monroe High School robotics team also showed off its creation in the Maker-Space station as well.