Last month, students and families attended the 9th annual STEAM Youth and Community Conference at the University of San Diego, hosted by the school’s Jacobs Institute for Innovation in Education.
This year’s conference featured more than 40 student presentations, hands-on STEAM-themed workshops and multiple prize giveaways.
“It was the largest turn out we’ve ever had,” USD Project Manager Rebecca Ottinger said. “700 people were coming together as a community for the day, and the energy was really electric.”
According to Ottinger, the first ever conference was organized by three USD faculty members who saw the need for a space that would equip young people with the tools and support they needed to succeed.
Since then, the event has grown significantly, expanding to include more workshops and greater participation from local organizations.
This includes co-host organizations like the San Diego Unified School District, the San Diego Foundation and Young Echelon.
In past years, the conference was typically kicked off by a summer camp called STEAM Academy, also held on campus. For two weeks, students would participate in immersive, hands-on experiences — exploring skills in subjects ranging from robotics to dance.
Although the academy was not held this year, other summer camps were hosted in its stead, including VisMO Summer Adventure and the ImPactful Teen Innovation Sandbox, which were both designed to inspire creative problem solving.
VisMO combined origami and the sandbox game Minecraft to enhance students’ spatial awareness and deepen their understanding of math.
Meanwhile, the Innovation Sandbox walked students through the process of creating and broadcasting their own live podcasts.
Students presented their projects at the conference’s opening, (Photo provided by Cameran Zech)“We’re an institute that focuses on innovation, that focuses on how to help raise the voices of our youth,” Ottinger said.
“We need to be thinking about how they want their voices to be raised, and how we can help get them there.”
Students who participated in these camps were invited to present their projects at the conference’s opening, alongside presentations from fellow students throughout San Diego.
The event later hosted 30 different STEAM-themed interactive workshops, run by professors, university students and other local experts of their crafts.
These workshops covered a wide range of STEAM topics, teaching participants how to build underwater robots, master the art of weaving, explore neuroscience and construct a musical organ.
Workshops at the conference covered a wide range of STEAM topics, teaching participants skills such as weaving (Photo provided by Cameran Zech)Many were also offered in both English and Spanish.
“Everything that we do is really about reimagining teaching and learning, allowing students to embrace their unique selves,” Ottinger said.
Attendees ended the evening with the STEAMx conference, the event’s take on TEDx speeches.
Three speakers shared their experiences with “productive struggle” in life, including an eighth grader who, despite her young age, delivered a “powerful speech” about overcoming adversity, according to Ottinger.
“There were over 200 people in that room listening to them,” Ottinger said. “It was really powerful to have the community be there together.”
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