Peshtigo kids soar with hands-on learning STEM Shuttle visit

PESHTIGO — One day. Five sessions. Fifty students.

The Dream Flight USA STEM Shuttle docked its coach bus at Peshtigo Elementary Learning Center last week to teach groups of 5th and 6th graders about science, technology, engineering and math through hands-on experiments.

Jon Kukuk, a Peshtigo School Board member who brought the bus to the area, said the visit was a chance for kids to explore potential careers.

“This is exactly what we need in Peshtigo,” Kukuk said.

He said vocational schools must expand to keep projects based in the U.S. There is a great need for welders, mechanics and carpenters.

Delta Dental paid for scholarships for students to visit the shuttle, which was entirely free for students to participate in. He remarked on the new school renovations and the opportunities for students for more activities like this in the future.

“The expansion of the school will help invest in tech programs,” Kukuk said.

The Dream Flight USA Foundation was founded and is chaired by Sharon Ryan, who was on board the bus as a teacher last week. She expressed the importance of getting students involved in STEM.

“We need more engineers,” Ryan said. “We’re not doing enough of that in the classroom. We need to steer them that way.”

Since introducing the shuttle in 2006 while a full-time teacher at John Marshall Elementary School in Wausau, Ryan said the group has focused on space-based activities aboard the bus.

The original program was featured on ABC Television’s Good Morning America. Ryan was also the recipient of the Presidential Award for Elementary Mathematics and Science Teaching and the Wisconsin Elementary Teacher of the Year.

On the bus, the kids built an arch by stacking blocks on top of each other — the lesson was already connecting for some.

“That’s how the Romans built the coliseum,” said Liam Koch, a student.

Together, the group tested a multitude of different weights on the structure, taking turns hooking them onto the top arch.

Ryan looked on and said that astronauts practice this maneuver every day to be able to perform it correctly in space.

She stressed that the students be careful — any mistakes made in space would forfeit the multi-million dollar satellite that might contain essential experiments.

After two tries, the students hooked the final weight.

Up front on the bus, another trio stacked a triangle of pennies using magnetism.

“That’s three engineers working together,” said Terry Whitmore, shuttle pilot.