Minot’s Full STEAM Ahead organization sponsors a number of cultural enrichment activities for kids, including the junior LEGO league that was launched last fall and meets once per week.

STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics.

Harkins said her kids, one of whom is more interested in the sciences and one who may end up being a little more arty, have tried out a number of the different activities as they are offered, such as chess.

“There’s something for every kid,” said Harkins.

Submitted Photo Sertoma T-Ball is a fundraiser for the Minot’s Full STEAM Ahead organization. Last week the Minot Sertoma Club presented Minot’s Full STEAM Ahead program with a $10,000 check to support Full STEAM Ahead.

Her son would have been old enough for the FIRST LEGO League for older kids, but Harkins family wasn’t able to make the time commitment to that group, which includes a competition, last fall. The junior LEGO league is non-competitive and gives them a chance to try out the activity. The group is sponsored this year by SRT and enables kids to explore robotics using the WeDo Robot system. There are two sessions each year, offered from September to December and January to April offered in collaboration with the Minot State University education department. MSU students are the coaches. Junior LEGO League students will be able to show off everything they’ve learned during an EXPO at SRT on April 4 from 10:30 a.m. to noon that is open to the public.

They are in different groups that meet at the same time in Minot State University’s Swain Hall building.

“Both my 10-year-old and 6-year-old are loving it,” she said, adding that her kids are getting to know and work with kids they probably wouldn’t have met otherwise, who go to different schools

The FIRST Lego League for kids ages 9 to 14 is a competitive group. The teams form in the early fall and meet weekly from August or September to January and February.

A group of fourth- through eighth-graders in a FIRST LEGO League group that met on Thursday at Swain Hall includes Jack Nesdahl, Brayden Nelson, Gavyn McKeithan, Kaleb Buynak, Rylan Bakk, and Drew Elgin. The boys said they enjoy working together to make a LEGO robot perform a series of tasks and make new friends.

Submitted Photo Minot and Tioga FTC robotics teams are seen working together.

Kaleb’s dad, Dan Buynak, is the main coach for the group and Drew’s mom, Nikki Elgin, also is involved.

Nikki Elgin said the robotics activities help kids do better academically but it also builds character and their ability to work together as a team.

As part of the FIRST LEGO League competition, kids have to come up with a solution to a problem in their communities and do a presentation. Buynak and Elgin’s group did research on how to stop birds from hitting windows.

Another FIRST LEGO League group researched other locations for the community ambulance, said Elgin.

The kids also worked to incorporate different values in the work they did as a team, such as inclusion, discovery, teamwork, innovation, impact and fun.

Submitted Photo The fall 2019 production of Pirates Past Noon by Make a Scene Kid’s Theater.

Buynak’s and Elgin’s team calls itself the Joels, after an MSU student who volunteered as a mentor with the team last year.

Full STEAM Ahead’s flagship program is the Make a Scene Kid’s Theater, which got its start in 2015 as a youth theater and now falls under the Full STEAM Ahead umbrella, according to a press release prepared by Full STEAM Ahead executive director Allison Auch. That program offers drama classes for kids and gives older kids a chance to put on a production. The Creating Together class for kids ages 3 to 6 meets Mondays from 4:30 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. Kids in the class explore a new story through a book, onstage, and with a craft, according to material provided by Full STEAM Ahead. The Stories to Stage group, for kids in first through third grades, is offered in four to six week classes. Kids memorize lines, block plays, and put on a show for an audience. From Feb. 26-28, the older kids in the theater group in grades third through eighth will be putting on Robin Hood. The kid’s theater puts on larger productions with kids’ casts several times a year. They will also offer a spring production and are making plans for a summer intensive production.

Another group that falls under the Full STEAM Ahead umbrella is the CyberPatriot club.

According to Full STEAM Ahead, CyberPatriot is a national program that teaches kids about being safe on line. The CyberPatriot group, for middle school students, meets Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Model Hall at MSU. The group is coordinated by Darren Seiffert and co-coached by MSU computer science students.

Our son loves the Cyberpatriot classes at MSU,” said parent Jonah Lantto in a press release provided by Full STEAM Ahead. “His enthusiasm after going to the first class actually surprised us and he’s continuously eager to learn and return each week. According to him the instructors are kind and awesome…We are hopeful this will plant seeds for his future.”

Submitted Photo Children in the Creating Together kid’s drama class.

Full STEAM Ahead also offers after school enrichment programming in painting, ceramics, yoga, theatre, and other programs to elementary students at Our Redeemer’s Christian school, Velva, Surrey, South Prairie, Berthold, Nedrose, Dakota Elementary and North Plains Elementary at Minot Air Force Base, Bell Elementary and at Burlington-Des Lacs Elementary. According to Full STEAM Ahead, the organization would also like to offer the classes at other schools.

“In small rural schools such as ours, children don’t often get opportunities to challenge themselves outside of the traditional textbook subjects,” said parent Lance Selzer in the press release. “(After school enrichment) provides our children with that avenue to challenge themselves as as well as identify new talents in the STEAM areas that they might not have ever realized. It’s exciting to see!”

The Kid’s Clay pottery classes and workshops have been offered on and off since 2016 and are open to kids ages 8 to 14.

Full STEAM Ahead’s largest fundraiser is the Sertoma T-Ball League. The league will be open for registration at the end of this month and games will begin on May 24 and run or a six week season. The cost is $30 per child. Games are played in the evenings at Polaris Park, Radio City Park, and 11th and 11th Avenue Park. Another fundraiser is the Minot Youth Kickball League, which starts the week after July 4 and runs for six weeks. This league is open to kids between the ages of 3 and 9 and registration will open sometime in May. The cost per child is $20.

Full STEAM Ahead is also working to offer other programming for children and would like to help launch a Girls Who Code group for girls in elementary, middle and high school sometime this fall at local schools and clubs.

Submitted Photo Kids in a Kid’s Clay Pottery class.

Other events that have been sponsored by Full STEAM Ahead include chess clubs and tournaments, the Lego Robotics Camps, Minot’s Got Talent Talent Fundraiser from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Feb. 15, Tiny Toes Ballet for 3 to 6-year-olds, and the Doll and Me Tea Party Fundraiser which will be offered Sept. 20.

Submitted Photo Kids play kickball in the Minot Youth Kickball League.