2020 STEM Initiative Officially Launched!

Friday 24th July saw STEM Wana Trust officially launch our exciting New Zealand STEM Initiative to our sponsors, friends, and collaborators. The event was held in the Babbage Space at our spiritual home at Basestation, Tauranga – Bay of Plenty.

Guests came from all sectors and industries and were given a small teaser of what was to come for the rest of the year.

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We announced our official programme which includes:

STEM Curiosity Day

Conversations in STEM (and SPACE)

YouthDev Challenge

STEM Explorer Trail and STEM HQ

The Babbage Space was filled with interactive and hands-on STEM exhibits for everyone to explore. From an Interactive Particle Wall to Trichromatic Colour Mixing Wall, NASA space circuitry, and binary code badge making, there was something for everyone to enjoy.

Our Phytoplankton Quiz captured statistical data on our guests using low-tech pom-poms with some surprising results.

We even had a surprise guest from space!

Huge thank you to our friends at NASA and the ISS for a very special out-of-this-world message from Chris Cassidy.

Thanks also to our friends who helped make it such a fun and engaging event:

• Alvin from TechnologyWise for setting up our Particle Wall.

• Erin (one of our Board Trustees) and Phoebe for preparing the delicious food for us to enjoy.

• David from the Tauranga Astronomical Society for setting up an impromptu star gazing equipment outside for us to explore Mars and beyond!

• YouthDev Team and their mentors for sharing the latest on their exciting project.

• Hans from Folk Coffee for the loan of the bar leaners and Elizabeth at the Science Labs UoW for the glass beakers. Ranga Alcoholic Ginger Beers for yummy ginger based drinks. The Crowthers for the loan of their cool giant LEGO rocket. Courtney and Scarlett for the loan of their voices for our video 🙂

• Our awesome volunteers on the day Jen, Qionne, Murray, Scott, Robbie, Indie, Charlie, Paul, Lana, and Scarlett and the STEM Wana Crew Kate, Qi-Wern, Steven, Tia, and Alyssa for putting in many long hours to get everything ready in time.

We are so excited for the months ahead and from the feedback we have had, so is everyone else!

We are grateful to our initial sponsors and supporters to get us this far. We invite others to join us as we embark on this ambitious programme of STEM Initiatives to inspire and create the next generation of Scientists, Technologists, Engineers, and Mathematicians for Aotearoa.

We would love to hear from you if you would like to be involved – sponsorship is now open! If you are keen on being a volunteer or contributor, you can register your interest too.