California students enjoy weekend math and science

By Matt Petras

For the Mon Valley Independent 

Matt Shimko, a California Area High School senior who plans to attend Penn State to study electrical engineering, is one of about 30 students spending their Saturdays learning math and science. 

The high school has partnered with the National Center for the Advancement of STEM Education (nCASE) to deliver a STEM program for students focused on practical applications of STEM education like building and programming robots. 

“I enjoy playing with robots — anything electrical I like to mess around with,” Matt said. 

U.S. Department of Defense funding is being used to promote STEM education across the country. These sessions began at the high school last month. There will be 10 total and the program is open to students from ninth to 12th grades. 

The students are already multiple sessions into the program and have been working with robots. 

“This part is taking the math applications and applying them to the idea of robotics and also engineering,” said  biology teacher Bill Fabbri. “So it’s kind of a combination of math and robotics and engineering.”

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