iBerkshires: STEAM Challenge Night Brings Science to Schoolchildren

By Breanna Steele, iberkshires staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Children and their families were able to learn from a range of science experiments last week night from Flying Clouds annual STEAM Challenge Night.

Flying Cloud, an organization that offers programs in the arts and science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) to schools and children in the area, brought together about 20 organizations at the Berkshire Innovation Center to demonstrate science-based projects.

"We believe in creative expression, as well as being an integral piece of learning science. And so we call it our STEAM Challenge. And then all the people that we get to work with all through the year, all of these different organizations and businesses, they come and offer a hands-on activity and, honestly, they just bring such creative and imaginative things," said Flying Cloud Executive Director Maria Rundle.

Organizations and businesses, including Bottomless Bricks, BeatNest, MassAudobon, Latinas413, Mount Everett Robotics, and more were interacting with students Thursday night.

Boyd BioMedical, a manufacturer in Lee, came to the challenge night for the first time and was demonstrating different materials and what they looked like at 100x magnification.

"It's just a way to stimulate the minds of the young kids and get them interested in science," said Director of Quality Dan DeFranco. "I have kids of my own. I love the fact that they like getting into the experiments and doing these fun things. So the more you can encourage it, the better off they are."