DUKE CENTER — The Otto-Eldred High School gymnasium was transformed into a large workplace for future scientist and engineers on Friday.
Students in the ninth and tenth grades were given their work badges and reported to the lab to put in a full day’s work.
Otto-Eldred was selected to participate in the Great Minds in STEM Viva Technology Program sponsored by Shell. The Viva Technology Program is a program designed help keep America technologically strong by promoting careers and degrees in STEM (Science, Technology Engineering and Math).
Students were assigned a team and a team leader. Several of the team leaders were University of Pittsburgh at Bradford students who provided guidance throughout the STEM competition.
The students were given several activities and competitive projects to complete. The students all had chances to earn VIVA dollars which served as tickets that could be turned in to win prizes at the completion of their work day. Prizes included such items as Fitbit, streaming drone, virtual reality goggles, Sony headphones, and a printer. The grand prize was a PC tablet.
Brian Medeiros, an employee of Shell and an Eldred resident, was in attendance the day of the competition. “I’m so glad we could bring this program to our kids” he stated. Medeiros was also leading a team for the day.
The day prior to this event, a parent orientation took place in the rotunda at the high school. Parents that attended received scholarship information and learned about different career pathways for their children’s futures.
