History of STEAMfest

On January 26, 2020, Woodlawn held the first STEAMfest celebration. Hundreds of youth and families of all ages were welcomed by Woodlawn School for one of the largest community wide events held on Woodlawn’s campus.

Due to health and safety concerns in 2021, STEAMfest was reimagined. In an effort to continue the momentum of STEAMfest 2020, Woodlawn’s STEAMteam created a virtual event. STEAMfest 2021 extended past the local community and went global with thousands of youth and families from around the world participating in over 100 online activities.

But, this was not the beginning of STEAM at Woodlawn.

It all started in 2013, when a group of Woodlawn parents met to explore ways to enhance the STEAM opportunities at Woodlawn. First, the Woodlawn Robotics and Engineering Club (WREC) was founded. Students, supported by parent volunteers, assembled to … you guessed it … build robots!  

In 2015, the “Wow! STEAM” after school program was established. Each week, students in grades K-5th, explored hands-on activities and presentations about a STEAM topic.  Guest volunteers from the local community and Woodlawn parents introduced new topics in STEAM and the students explored the topics by doing hands-on activities.  From building rockets and transistor radios, to learning about combustible and non-combustible engines, studying the 5 senses, exploring neurons and recording neuro-activity, learning how pulse oximeters and X-rays work, and petting reptile, the students were inspired to explore various topics in STEAM through numerous engaging activities.

In March of 2016, Woodlawn held its first “Family Science Day” event. Students and their families spent the afternoon exploring a number of hands-on STEAM activities.  The event was dubbed “STEAM WARS” with a STAR WARS theme.

The next year the second “Family Science Day” continued the “STEAM WARS” theme, but grew to include additional booths sponsored by colleges, libraries, museums, and other organizations from the community.

Building on past success and the vision of new leadership at Woodlawn, planning for STEAMfest 2020 started in the fall of 2019. This event opened to the public and lasted an entire afternoon. Over 200 families, 400 attendees, visited Woodlawn’s campus to Imagine, Discover, and Explore over 50 STEAM-related booths sponsored by dozens of organizations.

On January 30, 2021, STEAMfest’s virtual event continued 2020’s success with its 3-week global outreach accessed by nearly 50 countries and almost 7000 visitors! With over 100 activities and live streams, the event’s website served roughly 100,000 pages to “mySTEAMfest Explorers”.

Woodlawn’s STEAMfest 2022 event planning began fall of 2021. The 2022 event combines the live, in person, 2020 event with the virtual, online, 2021 experience, affording both local and global participation.  Pre-registrations for the 2022 live event have already doubled and may triple the 2020 pre-registrations, making this event possibly the largest STEAM event in the area.  With 64 activity booths presented by Woodlawn, other area schools, universities and colleges, libraries, and other businesses and organizations within our community, there will be plenty to see and do at STEAMfest 2022!