VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Landstown High School in Virginia Beach hosted a STEM carnival to give students the opportunity to create obstacles to test body strength.
Students have been designing and building their projects for three to four months.
Jacqueline Mims, a senior biomedical engineering student, says her inspiration for STEM started with her father.
"In middle school, it only flourished so when I was applying for the academies, I was deciding between a few then I realized Landstown is where I wanted to be. I knew that STEM was always something a part of my life and it was something I could build off of," said Mims
Mims serves as an overseer for each team, she makes sure the games that they built are working properly.
"I know the layouts I know where things are I know the way that things are supposed to flow," said Mims.
Jace Mcswain, a junior biomedical engineering student, says his team created a Ninja Warrior-inspired inspired wall.
But, before the launch, the team ran into trial and error.
"Testing and resigning was a big part of making this carnival happen," Mcswain
Anthony Le, a STEM teacher at Landstown, says all he wanted to do was give students an experience outside of the classroom.
"When we're sitting in a classroom, I feel like I am just memorizing or being introduced to things. I wanted to provide this experience because the next thing they have to do is go out and work. said, Le.
Le mentioned that since the theme of the carnival is "Operation Sigma: The sum of all fears" each game was designed to do to help students overcome obstacles.
"We have 6 direct obstacles including a 10-foot ninja wall that would usually stop people," said Le.
Mims says this is just the beginning for the future of STEM.
"A lot of these people are saying wow this is a carnival? We have people outside of school saying these high school kids made this carnival. It's just a good feeling."
With the help of two teachers, Mr. Le and Victoria SacharMilosevich also know as "Milo" the school was given a grant from the Virginia Beach Education Foundation.
The games will be on display until Friday for Middle and High School students to see.
