Tenafly Stem Night

Hello, it is me, Brandon and recently Tech 101 Kids had participated at a Stem Night at Tenafly. The event took place in a gym but also had extended into separate areas such as other classrooms and hallways. The volunteers were kids from the middle school. They were very helpful with setting up all the exhibits and providing us with what we needed. There were many exhibitions including ourselves that you could explore. For example, you could go racing with your friends using a power jack, walk on cartons of eggs without them breaking, or equip a 3D printed hand that would function with the flick of the wrist belonging to the Enable Community Foundation.

One of the exhibits that struck out to most people was the R2-D2 whirling around the gym. But as everyone knows R2-D2 is a wanted droid and before we knew it the Empire arrived. They marched in with their imperial officers at the head and the stormtroopers trailing behind. Immediately apprehending the droid they sought to return back to Darth Vader. However, they noticed the wide variety of exhibitions and decided to participate in many. They all belonged to the 501st Street Legion Club.

There were many other activities that were happening in other rooms and the hallways as well. If you were hungry you could go and grab a snack from the wide variety of food. There were kids sparring in the hallway using the Nintendo switch. In one room people were using the Oculus Rift and immersing themselves into a virtual reality. If there were too many people using the Rift can you could go to the room next to it and use the Vive. The Vive is just like the Rift but uses controllers as well. If you simply wanted to participate in teamwork activities you could head to the room filled with people in teams working on different projects.

In my opinion, I would have to say that the stormtroopers and the walking on eggs were the best part. The stormtroopers walked around doing whatever they pleased. They traveled as a group of 3 consisting of a regular stormtrooper, a scout trooper, and a desert trooper.

As for the egg walking, I had partaken in the event. How it worked was that there were 6 cartons of eggs laid out, one for each foot. You would put one foot on the carton of eggs and try to spread out your weight as much as you can. You would then repeat with the other foot. Then you had to walk across all 6 cartons of eggs. I was very nervous that they would break since how could eggs hold up a person. None of the eggs so much as cracked. This is because each egg can hold up to 3.75 pounds on their weakest part. One object that has to constantly put pressure on these eggs would be the mother hens. The hen has to sit on the eggs to keep them warm so they have to be able to withstand pressure. But if you’ve ever tried to crack an egg, you would notice that it’s fairly easy. This is because the little chicks need a way to get out, which is done by repeatedly hitting one spot with their pecks. With all the pressure focused on one point, it cracks. The organization hosting this activity was Stem New Jersey.

Impressively almost all of the kids there knew how to solve a Rubik’s Cube. The school was jammed pack and I hope that I would be able to meet the StormTroopers again there next year.