New classrooms at Great Lakes Science Center connect kids to STEM

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CLEVELAND — Cleveland's Great Lakes Science Center is expanding thanks to the growing excitement of STEM in Northeast Ohio's youth.

“These students have a home base. They walk in the front door of Great Lakes Science Center. They feel like they live here,” stated Scott Vollmer, the VP of Education and Exhibits at the Great Lakes Science Center.

That’s what they wanted for the Great Lakes Science Center Robotics Initiative. The student’s new home is the Rockwell Automation Robotics Room. A place robots rule.

“Whether it's competitive robotics or working on robotics that actually get put into production in businesses. This is all things robotics,” said Vollmer.

The space is decked out with individual work stations, a variable speed lathe, gear drive milling machine and 3-D printers to bring creations to life.

“Where they can fabricate in this room and build and test and iterate from there, all of the robotics projects that they have to work on,” said Vollmer.

The Robotics Initiative is a collaboration with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. The Science Center provide mentorship, curriculum and resources to compete in the FIRST Robotics Competition. And the initiative is growing from 4 teams to 6.

“One of them is going to be an all girls team again from Cleveland Metro Schools. And then Garrett Morgan will also now have a robotics team,” said Vollmer.

That’s not the only newly renovated space. For the summer, the TransDigm Group Learning Center is where the Curiosity Kids are exploring, learning and designing a parachute for an egg drop. The space is flexible for experiments, engineering challenges and lab workshops. Even what is on the wall connects students with science.

“You'll see on the wall a parachute. That is what the Perseverance Rover used to land on Mars,” remarked Vollmer.

The Science Center new ways to get kids excited about STEM has already proven to be a success.

“We want the kids of northeast Ohio to feel like Great Lakes Science Center is accessible and we are we are providing all of the STEM resources that they need to become successful in the future,” said Vollmer.

All of this programming happing within the new spaces is designed to spark interest in STEM, to build kid’s confidence and even prepare them for tomorrow’s jobs.