Smith STEM Students Are Awed by Conard Mentors

The relationship that has been forming between a group of Smith STEM School 4th graders and members of Conard's Club CHS (Computer Hardware Software) culminated Friday morning with a visit to Conard by the elementary students.

Approximately 20 students from West Hartford's Smith STEM School who have expressed an interest in computer science spent the morning with their mentors. They engaged in a role-playing activity where each was a different part of a computer (keyboard, CPU, monitor) to understand how each component interacts with the other.

The students spent time in Conard's engineering class, watching a 3D printer in action and testing out the high school students' designs of egg transport vehicles.

The 4th graders also learned about Conard's green energy lab and tried to catch basketballs tossed to them by Rosie Robot – Conard's entry into the First Robotics Competition.

"[Rosie] was very inspiring for them. They work on the small robots but now they can see the high school version," said Smith Quest teacher Kathy Hardesty.

Smith math specialist Alison Foley said the point of the visit and the mentoring was to show the elementary students the opportunities available in STEM areas at the high school level. "We think it's powerful to have the high school students show them rather than us tell them," she said.

It's partly about the curriculum, but the relationship plays a key part, she said. The elementary students were excited to hear about the Conard seniors' college plans.

Ian Dowd and Christian Kuntz, leaders of Conard's CHS, have enjoyed their experience working with the younger students.

"They're all very intelligent. They'll do well," said Dowd.

Kuntz thinks the elementary school students will benefit from instruction at a  young age. "Most of us taught ourselves what we know," he said.

"The 4th graders think they're rock stars," said CHS advisor Jackie Corricelli.

In addition to mentoring the Smith STEM students, Conard's CHS educates others in the community about computers and the refurbishes devices for donation to community members who need them. Almost all plan to study computer science or engineering in college.