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MW Board Hears Report On New STEAM Center

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

An informal learning space for kids set up in the new Mesquite Works STEAM Center in Mesquite. It includes a banner mural created by the library district showcasing QR codes to more than a dozen library resources.

Big plans are underway for a new Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) Center in Mesquite. These plans include cutting edge technology and the very best in educational programming for all ages, according to STEAM Center manager Lizz Larson.

Larson gave a report of all the exciting things coming to the new STEAM center at a meeting of the Mesquite Works board on Wednesday, Aug. 17. Mesquite Works is the local nonprofit which is establishing the new education center.

“Slowly but surely we are going to get this place all ready to go,” Larson told board members at the meeting which was held last week in the STEAM center itself. “Hopefully there will soon be tons of kids in here benefitting from all of our exciting programming that is coming.”

The STEAM Center is located in the west side of the Mesquite Plaza shopping center at 312 W. Mesquite Blvd. The entire shopping center building was gifted to the Mesquite Works organization by regional philanthropic organization, the Frias Trust, for the express purpose of establishing the STEAM center.

Mesquite Works maintains the shopping center and leases out the commercial space in the rest of the property to local businesses. The revenues brought in by those leases are meant to be used to fund the STEAM center in perpetuity.

Larson told the board about several exciting things coming soon to the STEAM center.
One of these is a zSpace technology laptop workstation. This is a virtual reality 3-D learning experience for all ages, she said.

“Instead of having to wear a big chunky Oculus unit on your face – which is also a very cool thing and we will be getting one of them, too – but instead of that, you can just wear regular-looking glasses,” Larson said.

Participants can actually pull graphic elements out of the screen and interact with them in three dimensions, she said. Learning activities could include dissection of frogs, gravity simulations, taking a close, hands-on look at the human heart and more.

“It is really awesome technology,” Larson said. “I think it is going to be really changing, not only for the young kiddos who will be here, but also for the adults who want to come and experience it.”

The STEAM center will also be equipped with Glowforge, a laser printer and cutter system which can produce an amazing variety of crafts, etching and print work on an array of different materials.

“The kids can do all of that while learning about laser light technology; the temperature of the laser and how that has to change and flex for different materials,” Larson said. “All of these things that implement right back into STEAM foundations.”

Larson said that the STEAM Center will also have a state-of-the-art vinyl printer and cutter. This has a number of applications. But one of the most exciting is to teach children about basic marketing and branding, Larson said.

“I am hoping to do a workshop where kids can create their own brand,” Larson said. “They can create a prototype where they can actually market themselves; with a logo and other artwork. Then they can make stickers and begin to market their company.”

A Maker Space at the STEAM center will give kids a regular creative outlet to show innovations and designs that they have been working on, Larson said.

“The Maker Space will be opened to the whole community,” Larson said. “So not only the kiddos, but we will also have adults come in and use the sewing machines, the vinyl printer, the Glowforge and everything else to create amazing things.”

Mesquite Works is also working on a partnership with the Great Basin Observatory, a dark sky telescope located on a mountain top at Great Basin National Park in northeastern Nevada. The partnership would broadcast live images from the telescope to the STEAM Center in Mesquite. The center will then hold family nights where local kids and their parents can come and take a look at the stars from one of the darkest night skies in the country, shown on a huge screen.

A technology library at the STEAM Center also offers a fun lounge area where kids can sit and work on Chromebook computers that will be provided for use at the center. On a large wall in this area is a colorful mural provided by the Library District.

“This mural is really great,” Larson said. “You can go up and scan the QR codes on the mural and it will take you to public library resources that are really cool. It is going to be so great to get those things in action with local kids.”

Larson came from the public library system. She worked at the Mesquite Public Library branch for about a year working on teenage programming with hands-on crafts for middle schoolers and high school age kids.

“During that time, I just fell in love with Mesquite,” she said. “Then I started hearing about this great project that we have going on over here and I got excited about it. I have been helping get the STEAM center all set up and ready to go.”

Larson expressed interest in the center and the Mesquite Works executive board hired her to manage the new STEAM Center.

Larson said that she and a group of Mesquite Works board members had travelled to various places in Utah to see what was being done in successful STEAM centers there.
“We saw some really cool programs and got some great ideas,” she said.

During those visits, they put together an extensive list of baseline needs for the local STEAM center. This list included everything from high technology and equipment, to furniture, even down to pencils, erasers and markers.

“It was a big list of all the great fun things, and maybe the not-so-fun things that we needed in this building to get up and running,” Larson said.

This list was brought to the Mesquite City Council in a request for a grant of American Recovery Plan Act money to fund the initial needs of the center. The Council granted $100,000 to get things started. Larson said that this will be enough to fully equip the center.

One of the unique things about the local STEAM center is that it will be program-intensive, Larson said.
“Other centers that we saw were less program-oriented,” Larson said. “But I think that is going to be something that we will hit heavily on. We want to have the kids here and have those hands-on learning experiences. We want to give opportunities to kids to learn all of the science, technology, engineering, arts and math that can be made available to them.”

To develop all of that programming, Larson is encouraging community involvement. She said that she is already in communication with local educators and school administrators about how the center can help them. But she really wants to focus on what the kids have to say.

“As soon as possible, I would like to start a student council of sorts, made up of middle schoolers and high schoolers,” Larson said. “We want to get them here and talking about their ideas; what they would like to see in this place and the types of things that they would implement here. That is when it will succeed. Because no one knows better what the kids want to do than the kids themselves.”

In another matter of business at the meeting, the Mesquite Works board elected new officers. Selected as chair of the board was Gary Loosle, General Manager of the Do It Best warehouse in Mesquite. As Vice Chair, CSN Mesquite Site Coordinator Darlene Montague was chosen. Public Library Mesquite branch manager Judy Sargent was elected as board secretary. And Ann Weast, Finance Auditor at Mesquite Gaming, was selected as Treasurer.

For more information, follow the Mesquite Works STEAM Center Facebook page; or click HERE to use this QR code to subscribe to the center’s newsletter.

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