Students learn about design engineering at first Teen Science Café for ME!

    DOVER-FOXCROFT — On Thursday, March 27, 24 youth from five surrounding towns attended the first ever Teen Science Café for ME! event held at the old Mr. Paperback on East Main Street.
    The group engaged directly with James Bryant, a professional engineer from the Advanced Manufacturing Center at the University of Maine, on the topic of design engineering. They even got to see a demonstration of a portable laser scanner tool that Bryant uses to do his work. The youth were engaged and very curious about the work that Bryant does and how he uses the scanner to create 3-D models of things. They asked many questions and one student was even able to be the “hand model” to help demonstrate the scanner’s capabilities. There were a lot of “oohs” and “ahhhs” at that point in the evening.

    Adding to the excitement and energy of the night were two bats that decided it was a great night to come out of hibernation and join the group. The excitement was a great icebreaker and set the stage for a fun night with food, an interesting topic, a cool laser and a great speaker. Eight of the youth who attended are students from Dexter Regional High School and Foxcroft Academy who are on the Youth Leadership Team, which helped to organize and host the event.
    With the assistance of Clare Thomas-Pino and Alyson Saunders, both STEM guides from the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance, the youth selected the topic, planned the meal provided, chose the venue, created advertising, planned the agenda for the evening and carried out the typical duties of hosting an event, like set-up and clean-up. The skills they are gaining in event planning will serve them well in the future.
    Several parents and community members were also present at the event and many pitched in to help, their support was very much appreciated. The old Mr. Paperback building was generously made available to the Teen Science Café for ME! for this event and the owners, Charles and Kathy Fitzgerald, were very happy to see the building they are working to restore open and being used for such a great community event.
    This social event, with pizza and ice cream, was also a chance for youth to learn about other opportunities in engineering that they might be interested in. Several youth spoke directly with Bryant about opportunities at the University of Maine. Everyone left with a “goodie bag” that included a handout containing information about summer camps, activities, websites and other engineering resources that were compiled by the STEM guides. Before the youth left for the evening, they were asked to complete a comment card to help improve the next café. Those that responded were entered into a prize drawing. More than half responded and the general consensus was, “It was awesome!”
    The next café will be held in Dexter on April 24 from 6 to 7:30 p.m., upstairs at the town hall. The topic will be Nanotechnology –—another top choice by the Youth Leadership Team. Professor Rosemary Smith, also from the University of Maine, will be leading that presentation and it looks to be another fascinating evening. The final café for the season will be May 22 in Dover-Foxcroft at the Thompson Free Library — that café will be about aquaculture and marine science.
    The Teen Science Café for ME! program is supported by the STEM Guides Project, National Science Foundation Grant. For more information check out www.tsc4me.mmsa.org or contact Alyson Saunders, lead STEM guide at asaunders@mmsa.org.