MiraCosta College Virtual STREAM Festival Packed with Workshops and Activities for Those Looking for a Day of Discovery
What could be more appropriate than MiraCosta College’s annual STREAM Festival being streamed? That’s what’s happening Saturday, April 24, when the STREAM Festival—STREAM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Arts, and Math—is held online for the first time since the event began nearly a generation ago.
Virtual or not, the April 24 festival will be as busy as ever with community organizations and MiraCosta College students presenting six, 20-minute STREAM activities that anyone from preschoolers to middle schoolers can enjoy at home. Workshops are being organized by MiraCosta College students and community partners, including the San Diego Air and Space Museum, the North San Diego County NAACP Black Inventors, and the MiraCosta College Math Department. Representatives from the Community Roots Farm will provide tips on growing your own food and Project LIKE is offering a global literacy and STEM project.
The event starts at 8:45 a.m. with a welcome message and overview of the day's workshops. Residents should register for the STREAM Festival by
clicking this link.
“When families engage in fun STREAM activities, we destigmatize the notion that science or STEM is only for ‘smart’ kids,” said Beatriz (Bea) Palmer, Program Manager for the MiraCosta College Service Learning & Volunteer Center that sponsors the event in partnership with other departments at the college. “The more underrepresented and minoritized communities have access to college and STEM awareness, the more we'll see individuals who are historically under-represented in STEM careers,” Palmer continued.
After the STREAM Festival concludes, MiraCosta College will update its
STREAM website with dozens of different activities and presentations crafted by MiraCosta College students.
The annual STREAM Festival is typically held at the Oceanside Campus with up to 100 outdoor booths, labs, and STEM-focused projects. More than 2,000 children and their parents typically attend the MiraCosta College event hosted by the Service Learning & Volunteer Center in partnership with other departments at the college. The festival began in 2005 as the Math and Science Fair.
“The goal is to promote curiosity for learning across many disciplines, with STREAM at the core of all the fun,” Palmer said. “Every scientist should be creative, think critically, and appreciate global literacy. We hope that parents, siblings, and any adult who has been thinking about returning to school will become curious enough take the leap and learn with us."
