The Portland Public Schools, in partnership with EnviroLogix, will
hold the first Portland Public Schools STEM Exposition on Monday, Nov.
10 at the Ocean Gateway Terminal in Portland. At the event, which will
run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Portland Public School students, local
businesses, and post-secondary schools will share their learning in STEM
– science, technology, engineering and math. The public is encouraged
to attend.
“This is the first time ever that the Portland
community has come together to show how we are innovating in the areas
of science, technology, engineering, and math from our public schools
to our post-secondary schools and in our local businesses,” said
Portland Public Schools Superintendent Emmanuel Caulk. “This truly is
an exhibition of STEM learning from cradle to career. STEM knowledge
is essential for 21st century jobs and we’re excited to
partner with EnviroLogix in showing the public what our students are
learning to prepare them for the future.”
"EnviroLogix is
pleased to be able to partner with the Portland Public Schools in
their first STEM Expo,” said John Markin, President and CEO of
EnviroLogix, a Portland-based company that develops and manufactures
innovative detection technology for every link in the worldwide food
production chain. “Helping students see the exciting world of STEM
possibilities, combined with specific examples of existing results of
applied innovation that all exist right here in their back yard, is a
great opportunity for everyone. As a business that is built on
technology, we see this Expo as an investment both in the community
and in potential future employees for EnviroLogix, and we are proud to
be a part of it.”
Students from all of Portland’s public middle
and high schools, the Portland Arts and Technology High School
(PATHS), and three elementary schools will be among the exhibitors at
the event. Nearly 1,000 other Portland Public School students will be
touring the exhibits during the course of the day.
Some examples
of the student exhibits include one from Lincoln Middle School
students, who will demonstrate ZomeTools, which help students model
concepts in geometry, including 2D, 3D and applications such as the
Pythagorean theorem. Hall Elementary School students will be
displaying their toothpick bridge models in an engineering-related
exhibit. And Deering High School students will be demonstrating the
crime detection skills they have acquired in their Forensic Science
Class.
This STEM partnership with EnviroLogix arose out of the
Portland Public Schools’ Principal for a Day program, in which
EnviroLogix’ Markin participated. In the annual Principal for a Day
program – run in partnership with the Portland Regional Chamber and
its CEO Chris Hall – business CEOs spend a day as guest principals in
the public schools, providing insight and advice.
Breck Parker, vice president of research and development for EnviroLogix,
assists a Portland Public Schools' student with STEM learning.