Tomorrow, students and their families from across Guthrie County will get the chance to experience activities geared towards science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Guthrie County Iowa State University Extension and Outreach will be hosting their second annual STEM Fest at Coon Rapids-Bayard Junior Senior High School. One local school district benefiting from STEM experiences and equipment is Panorama.

The District recently acquired Makerspace technology, which is designed to encourage innovation and creativity. They also recently sent five high school girls to a STEM networking event hosted by Iowa Public Television. PSD Instructional Coach Kylee Boettcher talks about a particular experience students had with STEM. “One of the discussions we had was about welding, that there is so much more than what you would think of just being a typical welder. These girls were really intrigued by that. They haven’t maybe thought of taking Mr. (Evan) Babcock’s welding class, but now they’re a little bit more intrigued in that knowing there’s more of these career opportunities out there for them.”

Some of the experiences helped guide students in the district’s recent “Cardboard Challenge.” The challenge helped inspire administration to begin the process of turning the atrium into a library.