On February 8, 2025, 25 LWHS students spent the day at the West Portal Elementary Maker Playground, teaching, playing and exploring science with youngsters and their families. Our students brought energy, warmth, and generosity to this cherished tradition, which was well attended by WPES students and families.

LWHS math teacher Yetta Allen has been bringing students to WPES for 14 years to host and facilitate all kinds of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) activities. Popular projects include: experimenting with dry ice, sewing, and various engineering challenges. The process really starts in October, when LWHS students attend planning meetings at WPES to research, plan, and budget. They take the next few months to do more planning, shop for supplies, and build props and activity kits. The event earns sophomores PPP service hours; each year, students from upper grades return simply out of love for the event.

Fourteen years ago, Maker Playground started as an evening event with 4 science experiments; over time, it has grown into a 3-hour weekend event, with 20-40 activities and serving 200-300 families. “I love seeing my students’ passions and creativity come to life. LWHS students are so wonderfully kind and helpful that they are enthusiastically welcomed and embraced!” said Ms. Allen. She was joined this year by science teacher Richard Gibson. Thank you, Ms. Allen and Mr. Gibson, for pushing our students to practice leadership in science education and encouraging younger students to experiment and play. 

LWHS students Kara K. ‘27 and Noah A. ‘27 reflected on the Maker Playground and their interest in STEAM. 

On participating in the Maker Playground: 

“I love working with young kids. Being able to teach them something that I'm passionate about was incredibly rewarding. My group was helping the students make small catapults and it was really cool seeing them take our project and put their own creative spin on it, walking away with something they were proud of and had built by themselves.” – Kara

“My favorite activities of the day were the roller coaster project, since I feel like it encouraged collaboration in the way that students were able to build upon each other's ideas, making a collective roller coaster at the end. It was a creative lesson, teaching physics using a marble roller coaster. I also thought the students enjoyed the dry ice activity, and it reminded me of playing with dry ice when I was their age.” – Noah

On learning at LWHS and plans for the future:

“I've always wanted to have a career in STEM and that’s a big part of why I chose to attend LWHS. There is such a wide range of shops classes and maths and sciences that allow us to pursue exactly what we're interested in as well as find new passions.” – Kara

“I'm definitely interested in an engineering career, and I feel like LWHS is preparing me well by offering a wide variety of shop classes and incorporating STEM into our required classes. I'm planning on running a student-led workshop hosted at LWHS next semester as well, so we can partner with local schools and students can give one off presentations about STEM topics they enjoy.” – Noah

Thank you Kara, Noah, and all the LWHS students who participated, for sharing your STEAM knowledge and enthusiasm with the younger generation!