Robots, astronauts and microscopes delight youngsters at Wicked STEM Expo

MILFORDE. The scientific and engineering communities left their labs and workshops and gathered at the Hampshire Dome on Saturday to share their work and passions with children and families. Hosted by New Hampshire workers' leaders, the Wicked STEM Expo brings together educators and professionals in science, technology, and engineering to educate young people interested in science to learn what they do and learn about high-tech. I gave them the opportunity to play with their toys.

Bedford's Corinne Wilson took her husband and her three children to the exhibit, where she learned something new and got off the couch. She wanted children exposed to several programs and exhibitors, from robotics to environmental consultants to advanced manufacturing. No need to twist your arms. Her whole family is interested in science, she laughs. We are geeks!"

Manchester astronaut Lee Morin spoke to an enthusiastic audience about his career at NASA - his spacewalks outside the International Space Station and now his work on the Artemis missions, which are expected to send humans to the moon for the first time in 50 years.

The STEM expo was aimed at high school and college students, but most attendees were families with young children who had heard about the event from their children's robotics teams. Familiarity with robotics has drawn even schoolchildren to exhibitors such as Hypertherm, an Upper Valley company that makes plasma cutters and other precision cutting tools.

Windham's Daniel Krajewski, 10, listened to Tim Renner of Hypertherm explain how one of the company's machines uses high-pressure waterjet cutting. “It’s like 5,000 elephants per square inch of material,” Renner said as Krajewski peered into the partially disassembled knife.

Of course, the benefits are not limited to science. 'What did you like best?' Maria Oram of Bedford asked her 7-year-old son Benjamin. Benjamin thought for a moment. "rain!"

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