Since the beginning of the school year, students in Worcester have been able to enjoy science outside of the classroom and beyond the school day at the Worcester Public Library’s STEM Lab program.

“It’s a completely different setting. They’re hanging out with kids that want to be there,” said Stacy Servideo, the youth services librarian.

Offered Wednesday nights to a dozen students each week, students are tasked with working through hands-on labs that relate to different science, technology, engineering, and math concepts. The program is meant for children ages 8 through 11. 

“Every week there is a new STEM week theme, so it’s not a continuation from the week before,” Servideo said. “It’s a chance to expand and use some tools and challenges that they might not be exposed to in real life.”

Students do not have to go to all eight of the sessions available, and they are able to pick and choose which activities they prefer.

For Servideo, she is able to see the growth and enjoyment from the students in each lesson. One story she remembers relates to a girl who worked with some of the robots available.

“She was so excited,” Servideo said. “She pulled in her teenage brother because she had to show him what she was doing and what kind of program she was using.”

Another younger student in the class worked on building a catapult one Wednesday class. Servideo said that he had some difficulties making it work properly and looked disappointed at the end of the hour session.

“He actually went home and did the whole engineering process,” Servideo said. “He planned it better, built it better, and brought it back to the class.”

Servideo said that she often hears from the students that they tried similar experiments at home or tried to construct things again on their own time.

Students have drawn with 3D pens, launched balloon rockets, and have even been challenged to build the tallest tower using their own school supplies.

For Servideo and the other librarians, the idea of exposing the students to the different possibilities of science and technology is a big aspect to the programming.

“When I was growing up I never thought about a career in the STEM field,” Servideo said. “I didn’t even know what some of these things were. It’s exposing the kids to things they might not be introduced to otherwise.”

While this is the first time the Worcester Public Library is putting on the STEM Lab specifically, it is not the chief experience around science and technology that the organization has put on.

“We’ve had STEM challenges, like lego building and different slime,” Servideo said. “We’ve definitely done a lot of STEM before.”

Servideo said there’s plans to continue with STEM programming for students in the future as well. “It’s important,” Servideo said. “We definitely want to continue doing STEM activities.”

To learn more and to sign up, visit Children’s Programs | Worcester Public Library (mywpl.org)