This year’s STEAM Showcase will be happening at Milpitas High School on March 26.
Plans for the hybrid event, which will take place both in-person and online, are currently underway. The Milpitas Community Educational Endowment Foundation (MCEE) is collaborating with the Milpitas Unified School District (MUSD) to plan and organize the showcase.
A total of 275 projects were submitted, and over 350 MUSD students will be participating from grades TK all the way to 12th.
The last time the STEAM showcase was held in-person was in 2019.
“We’re going to have half of the participants present in-person,” said Rob Jung, MCEE’s Founder. “We’ll be adhering to Covid protocols. And we’ll be dividing crowds up and having people flow through each project. We’re excited.”
The STEAM showcase has been happening annually since 2013.
In 2012, Jung came up with the concept for the showcase, as a way of getting kids excited about STEM.
“It was known as STEM at that time,” said Jung. “But now it’s STEAM, with Arts added into it. I wanted to set it up as a non-competitive way for kids to get excited, regardless of what grade they’re in.”
This year, they received a record number of submissions from students across the school district.
Mattos Mattos Elementary School had the highest number of submissions, with 68 projects total. Curtner Elementary School had the second highest, with a total amount of 41 submitted projects.
Since the STEAM showcase is non-competitive, there are no awards. Instead, every single student who is part of the event will receive a certificate, t-shirt, and medallion. Assemblymember Alex Lee’s office will also be giving certificates out to all participating students.
“I didn’t want to make this event competitive because I thought that would discourage some kids,” said Jung. “And it would take away the potential to really reach the younger kids.”
However, this means that Jung and his team must work extra hard each year to find sponsors to support them when it comes to costs.
Sponsors will have the opportunity to get their logo featured on t-shirts, the MCEE website, and advertising collateral for the event.
Anyone interested in sponsoring the event can go to: www.mceefoundation.org to learn more. To make donations, you can go here.
