Capital Charm at USASEF
“Look at the size of that thing”. Wedge Antilles iconic phrase from Star Wars sums up my initial impression of the 3rd USASEF. The festival took over the entire Walter E Convention center with thousands of exhibits and hands-on activities and tens of thousands came to enjoy the festivities.
The festival kicked off with X-STEM – a day long symposium with scientists sharing their personal stories of inspiration with thousands of local students. I saw some personal heroes – oceanographer Sylvia Earle, mad scientist Theodore Gray, and inventor Saul Griffith. The speakers came prepped – everyone I saw was prepared to speak to an audience mostly of middle and high school aged children. My favorite moment of the day was watching two boys race around collecting X-STEM trading cards with the scientist speakers. I picked up their extra Robert Tijan cards without trying to explain the importance of activator proteins.
Day 2 brought wave upon wave of kids. Sneak peek day kicked off with about 30,000 local students arriving mostly via field trips. Managing the fleet of yellow buses was an unenviable task, but the kids dove right into the hands-on exhibits in the Expo Hall. As a festival director, I’ve never actually worked a booth at an Expo, so I took the opportunity to lead an activity in the Chevron STEM Zone. I worked with the Fab Foundation on their “Squishy Circuits” activity – building circuits, lighting up leds, turning motors with simple battery packs and play dough. Fast-paced, endearing, and exhausting – it was a blur once sneak peek got underway. But ultimately, it was thrilling to see so many kids light up a LED for the first time. It was one of the most ethnically diverse Expo style events I’ve ever attended, in large part due to the field trip program.
I talked to a few teachers in those rare moments of calm. There were the typical grumblings, but most were impressed with the progression of the event in terms of quality and scale. A few were really eager to adapt activities for their classrooms to continue the experience. The weekend brought tens of thousands of families, but also a much gentler pace and sweeter tone. There was no crush – and the crowds seemed to be managed well by the amount of content available. I never saw a booth that was more than 2-3 people deep (though I never saw a booth without families around it either). I visited most of the impressive big exhibits – an excavator from Caterpillar, the new hybrid Walmart tractor-trailer, the drone music show by Lockheed Martin – but I found myself drawn to the simpler activities. The insect discovery booth with the University of Georgia, the addictive searching for fossils with microscopes by Scientific American, and glitter wounds with Vanderbilt University. They all seemed to have an element of self-exploration with scientists serving as guides. In between my shifts, I managed to meet with festival representatives from Youngstown, the new Virginia statewide endeavor, those irascible Mind Trekkers, the recently completed 2nd Michigan State science festival, and prospective folks from around the country. Considering the size of the event, I was incredibly impressed with the smoothness of the operation. There was a small army of volunteers everywhere, clear and exceptionally visible signage, and a smooth process at all check-in areas. Clearly this is a many multi-million dollar enterprise, but they seemed to get good return on the dollars. I’m not sure how an event at this scale grows, but that seemed to be the focus of a few of festival staff. We’ll all find out in two years, as I sense no slow down in the commitment of senior leadership. I left the festival late Saturday evening after a whirlwind three days. Even with the Wizards playoff game happening a couple blocks away, the Metro station was dominated with kids (and adults) in science t-shirts. And that glorious indelible image is something for all of us to celebrate.
