photo by: Niamh Coomey

Cali Hager-Smith, left, and West Virginia Northern Community College education intern Shania Danhart work on planting flowers during a science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) event on Thursday.

To provide enrichment for children while educating college students, West Virginia Northern Community College Education Club hosted an interactive “STEAM” event Thursday evening with several learning-centered activities.

The event was held on campus in the IDEA center, which is used to entertain and educate children and give WVNCC students interested in careers in child development and education opportunities to work hands-on with children.

Thursday’s event was focused on spring-themed activities and included an educational trivia game, a table with paint and brushes for kids to decorate flower pots, a station with dirt, seeds and shovels for planting flowers and a table with balloons and other materials for making kites and hot air balloons.

Each activity represented an area of STEAM — science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics.

Maclaine Newhart, director of the education program at WVNCC, said events like these help education students get in the 200 intern hours that are required by the program for graduation. It also gives them valuable experiences working directly with children of all ages.

“So they put on this event to help them get their hours and work with children hands-on,” she said. “Our interns have put a lot of work into providing this opportunity for community children, for staff and faculty children and for any community kids.”

Newhart said the college strives to take a community-based approach to learning, including creating opportunities for staff and faculty to have child care on campus by allowing students to organize events like the one on Thursday.

“We really want a whole-family approach at Northern so adults can get their education and their children can also get taken care of. That’s what we’re really hoping to do,” she said.

The program typically offers a few weeks of STEAM programming for elementary-aged children each summer, but this year is up in the air due to limited funding. They also hold their annual “Trunk or Treat” event for children and students alike to celebrate Halloween.

Shania Danhart is one of the student interns who helped plan Thursday’s event. She helped organize the flower pot painting activity.

Danhart said she hopes to graduate from WVNCC and transfer to West Liberty University to pursue a degree in social work. She said events like this one help provide her with experiences working closely with children.

“It gives me a lot of hands-on experience, especially working with kids of all different ages and grades,” Danhart said.

When asked about her favorite part of working with the kids, Danhart said she likes “seeing the enjoyment and how happy they are. I like making a difference.”