By: Bella Quitazol (Grade 12)
Here at Notre Dame, there are many clubs for all interests. One of our most popular clubs that combines the areas of Science, Technology, Art, Engineering and Math is the STEAM club. I had the opportunity to sit down with the Executive Student Team members as well as Two of the coordinating teachers to interview them for an inside look at the STEAM club and get to know the amazing leaders!
During the dialogue between the STEAM executive students and teachers and I, my questions are bolded as BQ, and the responses will be from the execs. Will be bolded with their initials as well after their name has been introduced.
BQ: “Okay, so I'm going to have you each answer one at a time, what are each of your executive roles and what are your duties within these roles?”
Emma Wang: “Hello, my name is Emma Wang and I am the CEO of the STEAM club, basically my role is to make sure everything is running smoothly and ready to go, I talk to everyone on the executive team and the teachers and ensure that everything is prepared when it needs to be.”
Michael Fletcher: “Hi, I’m Michael. I am the CVO, the chief events planner. I share this role with Tiana. I plan all the events and fun stuff that happen here at the STEAM club.”
Tiana Kayemba: “I’m Tiana, to add to what Michael said, we plan events and also make sure that everyone here at Notre Dame is aware of the events we are doing.”
Cadence McGillicuddy: “Hi, so I’m Cadence and I am the Media Officer for the STEAM club and I kind of just take care of the media aspect of things, I make social media posts on Instagram, advertise the club and things like that.”
Sophie Barbieri: “I’m Sophie the Communications Officer, I make sure that communication runs smoothly within the club and that information is effectively relayed.”
Shankar Parat: “I’m Shankar the Tech A.V Lead, I set up all the physical stuff before our meetings, I set up projectors and all the other electrical stuff in the background.”
Here at Notre Dame, there are many clubs for all interests. One of our most popular clubs that combines the areas of Science, Technology, Art, Engineering and Math is the STEAM club. I had the opportunity to sit down with the Executive Student Team members as well as Two of the coordinating teachers to interview them for an inside look at the STEAM club and get to know the amazing leaders!
During the dialogue between the STEAM executive students and teachers and I, my questions are bolded as BQ, and the responses will be from the execs. Will be bolded with their initials as well after their name has been introduced.
BQ: “Okay, so I'm going to have you each answer one at a time, what are each of your executive roles and what are your duties within these roles?”
Emma Wang: “Hello, my name is Emma Wang and I am the CEO of the STEAM club, basically my role is to make sure everything is running smoothly and ready to go, I talk to everyone on the executive team and the teachers and ensure that everything is prepared when it needs to be.”
Michael Fletcher: “Hi, I’m Michael. I am the CVO, the chief events planner. I share this role with Tiana. I plan all the events and fun stuff that happen here at the STEAM club.”
Tiana Kayemba: “I’m Tiana, to add to what Michael said, we plan events and also make sure that everyone here at Notre Dame is aware of the events we are doing.”
Cadence McGillicuddy: “Hi, so I’m Cadence and I am the Media Officer for the STEAM club and I kind of just take care of the media aspect of things, I make social media posts on Instagram, advertise the club and things like that.”
Sophie Barbieri: “I’m Sophie the Communications Officer, I make sure that communication runs smoothly within the club and that information is effectively relayed.”
Shankar Parat: “I’m Shankar the Tech A.V Lead, I set up all the physical stuff before our meetings, I set up projectors and all the other electrical stuff in the background.”
BQ: “I’m aware one member was unable to make it to this interview today, would anyone like to explain their role?”
EW: “I will, so we are missing one member named Adam Szautner, Adam is the Club Administrator, he organizes different things within the club like the things on Google Drive and he also works with me as well.”
BQ: “Excellent, thank you! Now, what can a student expect if they join the club?”
CM: “So I think a large aspect of the club is the community that comes with it. I believe that many students can make friends through STEAM as they share the same interests. We have a lot of variety with the activities we do to ensure we cover all the aspects of STEAM for any members that are interested in a specific area of STEAM this allows them to focus on that interest or expand their interest to another area. Another thing that students can expect is strong leaders as we as Execs. provide guidance and play a strong leadership role for all STEAM members.”
BQ: “That’s Great! What are some of the events and activities you have planned for this year?”
CM: “Closer to Christmas we will be doing something with Hour of Code that's very technology-based. So, for any students interested in coding and the technology aspect of STEAM, that's a big one we have planned.”
EW: “For November we have three things planned out! First would be tin foil boats, so that’s a small engineering project for one week. The next week we will be doing a math escape room, so that will involve either three or four teachers, all will be “chained up” in different rooms and the objective is to try and unchain them from each room. For the last two weeks of November, we are going to be working on hydrogen fuel cell cars.”
TK: “I think they have kits that we will be using to help build them!”
BQ: “Those all sound very exciting! I’m sure many other students are going to be excited to do those activities as well. Are there any other activities that are planned for later on in the year students should be looking forward to that you think would encourage them to come and join the STEAM club?”
Mr.Mikitzel: “One of the things we are hoping to do is get into the elementary schools and run STEAM nights at the elementary schools and ignite the spark of STEAM early before they come to Notre Dame.”
EW: “I will, so we are missing one member named Adam Szautner, Adam is the Club Administrator, he organizes different things within the club like the things on Google Drive and he also works with me as well.”
BQ: “Excellent, thank you! Now, what can a student expect if they join the club?”
CM: “So I think a large aspect of the club is the community that comes with it. I believe that many students can make friends through STEAM as they share the same interests. We have a lot of variety with the activities we do to ensure we cover all the aspects of STEAM for any members that are interested in a specific area of STEAM this allows them to focus on that interest or expand their interest to another area. Another thing that students can expect is strong leaders as we as Execs. provide guidance and play a strong leadership role for all STEAM members.”
BQ: “That’s Great! What are some of the events and activities you have planned for this year?”
CM: “Closer to Christmas we will be doing something with Hour of Code that's very technology-based. So, for any students interested in coding and the technology aspect of STEAM, that's a big one we have planned.”
EW: “For November we have three things planned out! First would be tin foil boats, so that’s a small engineering project for one week. The next week we will be doing a math escape room, so that will involve either three or four teachers, all will be “chained up” in different rooms and the objective is to try and unchain them from each room. For the last two weeks of November, we are going to be working on hydrogen fuel cell cars.”
TK: “I think they have kits that we will be using to help build them!”
BQ: “Those all sound very exciting! I’m sure many other students are going to be excited to do those activities as well. Are there any other activities that are planned for later on in the year students should be looking forward to that you think would encourage them to come and join the STEAM club?”
Mr.Mikitzel: “One of the things we are hoping to do is get into the elementary schools and run STEAM nights at the elementary schools and ignite the spark of STEAM early before they come to Notre Dame.”
BQ: “ I know the STEAM club ran that a few years ago, when during this school year did you plan on doing that?”
MM: “We plan on doing that this upcoming spring and are hoping to visit all of our feeder schools and share what we have learned here at the STEAM club and start that with them.”
SB: “At the end of the year for students interested in Horticulture we have an idea! Instead of buying pumpkins for the pumpkin painting next year, we will be planting pumpkin seeds ourselves in the school garden so they will be ready for next October.”
MM: “We are also hoping to do a school-wide conference in the springtime, the topic is still to be determined.” This year we are going to be doing a variety of activities, currently, we have mainly been doing art-related activities, we will also be doing many different activities that branch off from each letter of STEAM. We will be doing science labs, taking apart computers and fixing them, and looking at how robotics can be used in the healthcare industry. These are just some of our ideas of things we could be doing this year but the sky’s the limit here at STEAM because there are so many different things that can be done. We are really interested in the cross-curricular aspect of each part of STEAM.”
MM: “We plan on doing that this upcoming spring and are hoping to visit all of our feeder schools and share what we have learned here at the STEAM club and start that with them.”
SB: “At the end of the year for students interested in Horticulture we have an idea! Instead of buying pumpkins for the pumpkin painting next year, we will be planting pumpkin seeds ourselves in the school garden so they will be ready for next October.”
MM: “We are also hoping to do a school-wide conference in the springtime, the topic is still to be determined.” This year we are going to be doing a variety of activities, currently, we have mainly been doing art-related activities, we will also be doing many different activities that branch off from each letter of STEAM. We will be doing science labs, taking apart computers and fixing them, and looking at how robotics can be used in the healthcare industry. These are just some of our ideas of things we could be doing this year but the sky’s the limit here at STEAM because there are so many different things that can be done. We are really interested in the cross-curricular aspect of each part of STEAM.”
BQ: “You already touched upon this a bit but how is each aspect of the acronym “STEAM” individually integrated into the club, more specifically engineering as you already covered the other strands?”
MM: “Each week we are going to be running activities for the club based on different letters of STEAM. One of the weeks we will be focusing on engineering through the design process of building something for our community, for example, a couple of years ago we made portable greenhouses. Students had to design them, build them, then reflect on the nature of the building and go back and improve on their work.”
EW: “The tin foil boats we will be doing in November is an activity that combines engineering, science and art.”
BQ: “This is a question for the CEO, Who is involved in the STEAM club?”
EW: “There are three STEAM club coordinator teachers, they are Mr.Mikitzel, Ms.Kerwin, and Mr.Bozzelli. They help out the executive student team by helping with planning and insight, they aid in making key decisions and provide a lot of guidance. Besides the coordinator teachers, we have many other teachers that help STEAM from different departments in our school. Other than that there are seven students on the STEAM executive team, which we went over earlier. A lot of our goals overlap each other as we come together to make plans and host activities and we make sure that all STEAM members are having fun and learning. Lastly, without the students here at Notre Dame STEAM would not be where it is today. A big part of STEAM is the students that attend STEAM, show enthusiasm and participate in discussions and activities.”
BQ: “Why did each of you decide to join the STEAM club?”
SB: “ I joined STEAM because in grade 9 it was a place where I made a lot of friends and built new relationships. I would like to give back to our community and help students recognize the potential they have by joining this club.”
CM: “ I joined because a lot of my friends were joining but also because I was interested in the areas of STEAM already and the club itself made expanding on those interests very accessible and it's easier to learn about those areas and jump right into them through the activities rather than taking a class on it.”
EW: “ I joined STEAM because I wanted to make a difference in my community and I wanted to find a way to give back to the Notre Dame community for all it has done for me, and I believe being a part of STEAM is a great way to do so.”
TK: “I joined STEAM because I thought it was a very cool concept combining all the subject areas together and I love to learn, especially math, science and engineering so I wanted to join STEAM to learn more and also meet new people that have the same interests as me.”
SP: “I joined STEAM because I wanted to join a community as I wasn’t really in any real group before grade twelve so I wanted to join a community that I liked and I had heard a lot of good things about STEAM and its sense of community and the activities they were doing.”
MF: “I joined STEAM to participate in the fun activities and I was looking for a weekly group to be a part of to have fun in after school, earlier in high school it was a pastime I didn't take too seriously but now I started to see the community aspect of the STEAM club and I appreciate the kind of “STEAM family” we’ve created if you will.”
BQ: “Those are all amazing reasons, now what is the philosophy of the club?”
SB: “I think it's to unite students at our school and bring together a community unified by common interests, and to learn as well as have fun with the things they are learning.”
MM: “The philosophy of STEAM is to give people direction and improve aspects of their community through problem-solving. The philosophy is really about problem-solving and the design process and if we can apply those principles to our club and make positive changes in our community that is our goal.”
Mr.Bozzelli: “I would say the number one thing is community, to bring all of these different people together with all of these different ideas, there's no one answer to what STEAM is, it's what the people make it, and in the end technology and creative thinking serve the human population and not the other way around. So, utilizing the technology we have at our advantage to make our lives better rather than becoming slaves to the technology and using it mindlessly just to say that we are using it. Really at the center of everything is the person and everyone needs to remind themselves of that once and awhile.”
BQ: “I see that community is a big aspect of the STEAM club so in what ways would you say STEAM club affects our community and has been integrated within our community either in the school or outside of the school.”
MM: “We are hoping the STEAM club gives students something to attend after school as some students may be going home and aren't involved in any other extra-curricular activities so STEAM club may be a good outlet for those students. STEAM is a club that will always be there for our students with a range of activities we have planned that accommodate everybody. Even though we already started the club this year new students are always welcome to join. We want new students to join whenever they can, all students are a valuable aspect. It allows students to see what is available at our school as they may not have known we have a horticulture class and coding class and being a part of STEAM club allows them to see all the options here at Notre Dame.”
MB: “We meet to work through the technology to help our community as a basis as well. We have to remember we are not meeting as a group of people just to have fun but it is purposeful in what we are doing. Community in the sense of not giving ourselves a place to fit in but more as how can we give what we are capable at and what we all have a passion towards the broader community without overemphasizing on profit and materialistic gain but instead how can we increase quality of life and connect with people that share that like mind and interests.”
BQ: “Thank you guys all for your time today. It was great talking with all of you!”
MM: “We feel very lucky to be a part of InsideND. It is a great opportunity for our club, thank you!”
Thank you to all the Executive Staff and Student members for taking the time to meet with me. I’m looking forward to all the fun weekly activities planned for STEAM this year, see you all on Wednesdays after school, and remember new members are always welcome!