The Innovation Fair at Longmont Estates gives students the opportunity to showcase their incredible and diverse talents in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM).
Students get to choose between an Engineering Design project, which allows them to invent something new that someone might need, a Science Experiment, or a Genius Hour project where they pick a topic that they are curious about. “The students learn more about their topic, they learn about persistence as they work through their project – completing a project like this helps their executive functioning skills including time management and organization,” shared Jessicca Shaffer, Longmont Estates, STEM Coordinator.
Shaffer started the Innovation Fair six years ago with just the focus on the design engineering process, something she was teaching in her classes. “I found students also wanted to do science experiments, and we started including Genius Hour into classrooms so I expanded it into the Innovation Fair as well,” shared Shaffer.
The Innovation Fair is completely choice-based. Students choose whether to participate or not, knowing that they will need to use their time at home to complete their projects. Students get to use the STEM Lab about once a week after school, “this allows students time and space to work on their projects,” said Shaffer. “I also offer whatever supplies I have available for them to use.” Longmont Estates also welcomes evaluators to attend the fair. They interview the participating students about their projects, giving them the opportunity to practice their public speaking skills.
Currently, about a third of Longmont Estates students voluntarily participate each year. “My favorite part of the Innovation Fair is seeing how proud students are of their work when they are talking to the evaluators – the sense of accomplishment they have is something that stays with them for a long time,” shared Shaffer.