The Achieve Foundation of the South Orange-Maplewood School District held its yearly STEAM event. I’m proud to have been the chairperson for Maker Madness 2024. In its 9th year, the Achieve Foundation of South Orange and Maplewood brings together local makers and businesses to share hands-on STEAM and maker activities.
Hosted at Columbia High School in Maplewood, NJ, the event had over 1200 people in attendance. Maker stations covered everything from robotics and coding to planting seeds and creating junk sculptures out of electronics equipment from the ‘teardown’ station. Our committee focused on creating new station activities and connecting more with the community. This resulted in attendance by the majority of the school district’s Board of Ed members and four of the five Maplewood Township committee members.
We saw new sponsorships from local business such as Rutgers Painting and Ethical Mattress, and participation from the South Orange Rescue Squad and the local Girl Scouts, who sponsored their regional STEM Van. We had continued participation from within the district. Maplewood Middle School teachers demonstrated a Quake Table and related it to the recent local earthquake. We had participation from the high school robotics, astronomy and community volunteer clubs, and Maplewood and South Orange middle school students who are part of the community’s FIRST LEGO League robotics teams.
Three stations that I was most excited and proud to have this year were the South Orange Sensory Activation Vehicle, so kids could find quiet among the madness. The SOMA BuildHERs, a group of community minded girls that taught our young attendees some home improvement basics. My friend Corey Samuels, a true LEGO Master (Fox TV’s LEGO Masters), who grew up in Irvington and shared his amazing passion for STEM learning through LEGO play. Many station activities had materials donated, or run by local businesses. I’ve included a partial list below to show the variety and spark ideas for your own STEM fair.
- Little Passports
- Maplewoodshop
- Silverquicken
- South Mountain Bees
- South Mountain YMCA
- Sparkhouse
- Explorably
Check out pictures in the Essex Daily News, with pictures provided by Columbia High School senior Carlos Sanchez.
by Brad Schenker, Board of Trustees for the Achieve Foundation
