Bradford Woods Elementary School hosts STEAM expo

A cellphone or iPad couldn’t hold a candle to the antique technology of an old rotary telephone for some students attending the Bradford Woods Elementary STEAM Expo on Feb. 29.

The expo highlighted activities relating to the educational subjects of science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics. The old phones and other nostalgic items were part of “75 Years of STEAM at North Allegheny.”

“I will say, the 75 years of Technology room was such a hit with the students. They loved typing on my mother’s old manual typewriter from the 1960s. You should have seen them trying to dial a rotary phone. It was priceless,” said Bernadette Marshalek, the Bradford Woods teacher who chaired the event.

Other expo presentations were provided by parents of Bradford Woods students, Carnegie Mellon University professors, North Allegheny Senior High students, and members of the Northern Regional Police Department and Bradford Woods Volunteer Fire Department.

Topics included pharmacy, cybersecurity, geology, biology, artificial intelligence, dentistry, space and extraterrestrial studies, civil engineering, self-driving cars, and anesthesiology. More than 350 children and family members attended the event.

“The hope of the BWE STEAM Committee was to ignite a spark in what may become a lifelong interest in the sciences,” Marshalek said.

Obsolete and outdated items were on display, such as “a 1980 ATARI game, and of course, the ever-popular overhead projector,” Marshalek said.

Jaime Eimiller, school principal, said the success of the event was a testament to how amazing the Bradford Woods community is.

“The fact that our staff is willing to go above and beyond to execute such a complex evening, the fact that so many of our parents and community members were willing to volunteer their time, and the fact that we had nearly half of our school population turn out to enjoy the exhibits and extend their learning are all proof that the BWE community is one of the most special places for kids and adults alike,” Eimiller said.

Andrew Mazur, 10, is a fourth grader at Bradford Woods.

“It was really interesting. I liked that a lot of the things were hands-on,” he said.

His mother, Nicole, said the expo was fun and engaging, and she is grateful for the teachers who planned it.

“It was wonderful that so many parents took the time to share their careers and fields of study with the broader BWE community. The array of STEAM careers and projects was really inspiring and showed the children lots of exciting opportunities they could pursue,” Nicole said.