Something new this fall, as we anticipate the return to PI Day at Fox Valley Technical College next spring. Beginning tomorrow, October 3, registration opens for the STEMpede challenge!
These challenges will have a category for every Scout from Lion to Sea Scout and Venturing! We will even have a category for the super creative among us who would like to see just how far they can take a challenge successfully. New challenges will be released every 3 weeks and 1 day at 4pm (3.14) from STEMpede Saturday to Pi Day 2021. All challenges will be able to be completed with common household items and video submissions will be accepted for review and a chance to win your age category! **Continued** Safety procedures from the Guide to Safe Scouting can be found here and all Youth Protection Guidelines must be followed while taking on the STEM challenge program.
Registration opens TOMORROW, October 3. Scouts can participate in as many, or as few, challenges as they would like with only one registration per Scout! Guidelines and rules for each challenge will be available in pdf format on our Bay Lakes registration website. These pdfs will also have information about what advancement or award requirements may be completed during each challenge opportunity! This is a great way to keep your Scouts engaged and learning STEM principles within the Scouting program. No matter what is happening in our world that may limit our ability to meet in person, these challenges cannot be cancelled. This is a program that we can all look forward to!
Each challenge will be announced on the Bay-Lakes Council STEM Facebook page if you haven’t already, please stop by and give us a like! Additionally, an email will be sent from Council announcing the challenge and providing a link to a demonstration video to help get you started on your way to STEMtastic fun. Registration will remain open throughout the duration of the challenge program and Scouts may register at any time. All submissions will be due around the 1st of March to allow the judges time to review and score each video. Winners will be announced on Pi Day and winning videos will be shared on our Social Media pages in the weeks to follow.
We are partnering with New Horizons District from the Greater St. Louis Council to also offer an additional opportunity for our Scouts. They are hosting a Pi-K walk for Pi day 2021 and Bay Lakes Scouts will have the opportunity to complete this from their own neighborhoods. Information about that event will be shared with you as it becomes available. New Horizons District Scouts will also be offered the opportunity to participate in our STEM challenges! This is a neat chance to make STEM friends from other states and show off our STEM skills here in Bay Lakes Council!
If all of this doesn’t sound like quite enough STEM for you, we will also be hosting a virtual STEM fair! That’s right, any Scout can submit an experiment or STEM project of their choosing to our virtual STEM fair in their age appropriate category for an opportunity to take home bragging rights and additional patch and a pretty cool ribbon. 1st-3rd places will be announced in each category on Just Shy of Pi day, 3.13.2021 live on our Bay Lakes Social Media pages! If your Scout has been looking for a challenging Science fair or STEM competition to help complete a Supernova Award requirement, you will not want to miss this opportunity.
We are looking forward to making this the best, most awesome, totally STEMtastic event possible and cannot wait to see what you all come up with while completing these STEM challenges.
If you are an adult, interested in helping us review videos and scoring them according to our challenge rubric, please contact Amanda Tuttle at TuttleScoutsSTEM@gmail.com.
