Young visitors enjoy the science experiments during World Engineering Day at the Challenger Learning Center. (M Wallheiser/FAMU-FSU Engineering)
The FAMU-FSU College of Engineering College of Engineering joined the Challenger Learning Center (CLC) in Tallahassee, Florida on Saturday, March 4th, to celebrate World Engineering Day. It was the first time the college celebrated an open house at the center. Families got the opportunity to explore engineering exhibits to celebrate STEM and enjoyed planetarium shows and movies at the event.
Alan Hanstein, the director of the Challenger Learning Center, said, “The Challenger Learning Center is the K-12 STEM outreach component of the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. The goal of the event is to excite children about STEM and STEAM careers through space and science.”
CLC serves about 50,000 students a year, visiting from 68 counties in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. Norm Thagard, a former astronaut from the engineering faculty, joined former Dean Ching-Jen Chen of the college to form a partnership with the center over 20 years ago. They hoped the alliance with CLC would be a way to get children and students excited about engineering careers, Hanstein explained.
CLC is one of 36 Challenger Learning Centers in the nation with mission simulators where students can fly simulated missions to the moon, space and Mars. The Center has an IMAX theater, a digital dome planetarium, classrooms and STEAM labs.
Engineering student organizations from the college brought hands-on STEM activities for kids while staff and faculty from the college’s RIDER Center showed visitors how civil and environmental engineering work in the real word. It was a showcase not only of science-related themes, but also a visual reminder that anyone can be an engineer—one of the main tenets of the joint college and its outreach center.
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