The Verde Valley SciTech Festival is returning for its ninth annual regional celebration of science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics throughout the month of February.
This year’s event is sponsored by the City of Cottonwood and features 60 events hosted by more than 15 organizations in Cottonwood, Clarkdale, Cornville, Camp Verde and Sedona. The month-long event showcases organizations in the area working to advance STEM literacy. The 2022 festival included 45 events with over 1,300 participants.
The festival is run by the SciTech Institute of Phoenix, which promotes STEM education at a statewide level. The festival normally runs from February to April, but the Verde Valley organizers instead chose to celebrate it with a full calendar for February.
“The Verde Valley SciTech Festival exposes Verde Valley children to new and exciting STEAM opportunities and careers,” Science Vortex director Laurie Altringer said. “Our mission is to expand children’s STEAM awareness and increase their interest so that they pursue STEAM learning in high school and beyond. These types of out of school learning experiences also help children develop important 21st-century skills like problem-solving, perseverance and creativity.”
The kickoff event of the festival will take place at the Science Vortex on Saturday, Feb. 3, from 2 to 4 p.m. with booths from over 20 different STEM-oriented organizations providing hands-on learning activities. The event will feature a planetarium from the Arizona Science Center, custom name badges from Northern Arizona University’s SparCQs Quantum Science department, a virtual reality presentation about water’s molecular structure from ASU and a “Science is Fun” presentation. Three Mingus Union High School students who are Science Vortex Chief Science Officers have been training in the “Science is Fun” program with students and teachers at Basha High School in Chandler and will give a presentation about the transfer of energy.
The Audubon Fun Day at the Sedona Wetlands Preserve will take place on Saturday, Feb. 24, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., with birdwatching, water quality monitoring demonstrations, a BioBlitz scavenger hunt, art projects and games. The Northern Arizona Audubon Society, Friends of the Verde River, city of Sedona, Yavapai County Flood Control District, city of Cottonwood and Colorbird will be the participating organizations for this event.
The Exploring STEAM in Camp Verde event will be the official unveiling of the Camp Verde Community Library’s Verde Valley Runs on STEAM Mobile Lab. This will take place at Camp Verde Elementary School on Wednesday, Feb. 7, at 4:30 p.m.
The STEAM mobile lab is a 40-foot trailer that will provide STEAM education throughout the Verde Valley. The project is set up as a “maker space” and is led by the Camp Verde Community Library with the Science Vortex, Camp Verde Elementary School and other community organizations. The mobile lab will also be at community events throughout the year, such as the Verde Valley Birding and Nature Festival.
The festival will include a rainwater harvesting design competition, with entries due Friday, March 1; winning designs will receive prizes. The goal of the competition is to get kids and adults to research and learn about rainwater harvesting. More information on the competition and the food forest will be provided by local gardener Sarah Grover at the festival kickoff.
For more information, visit sciencevortex.org/vvscitechfest2024.
