Students learn about science at 'STEAM Around the World' fair at Uniondale High School

On a field at Uniondale High School, students were engrossed on Saturday in displays of DNA being extracted from a strawberry, chemical concoctions that felt like fresh snow and other scientific wonders as part of the school district’s science, technology, engineering, arts and math fair.

The “STEAM Around the World” fair on Saturday brought out nearly 100 people to see dozens of interactive displays including art and robotic exhibits.

Arthur Registre, the district’s director of science for K-12, hoped the event would instill a love of science outside of the classroom while showing the diverse student body that careers in science and arts are accessible to them.

Students, he said, often are learning science under the stress of taking an exam or memorization. The fair, he said, presented science in an innovative way. “When they [students] come in here, they have the opportunity to see science in a different light: fun,” he remarked.

Many of the stations represented different countries. The robotics station featured a picture of a Nigerian flag with a pioneer from that country. Other countries featured on displays included Brazil and Albania.

Students went to each display with a paper that functioned as a fair passport that was stamped by the person working the booth.

Jay Lochan, an earth science teacher at the high school, said the flags inspire students from different cultures.

“If they’re from a country that’s in one of these tables, … they can possibly one day become someone as important as a scientist or doing something on a higher level outside of a high school,” he said.

Uniondale High School sophomore Max Jones, 15, mixed up strawberry ice cream kept cold using liquid nitrogen. The ice cream was doled out to a line of children.

Jones, who hopes to work in food science, wanted people to leave the festivities with a greater understanding of how science helps and shapes our world.

Uniondale High School seniors Katie Bonilla and Kaitlin Vigil, both 17, worked together to crush strawberries and filter away parts of the fruit until they were left with a light red liquid. After a few more steps, they had a “snot-ish”-looking matter that they said was the DNA of the fruit.

“We’re able to show kids that science is interesting,” Vigil said, also noting: “They see more than the curriculum.”

At a nearby instant snow station, senior Jelyssa Ravello, 17, demonstrated to a child how to mix cornstarch and other materials to create a substance that felt like snow.

After touching the finished mixture, the child, excited, said, “Oh, my God, it feels so weird.”

Ravello, who is hoping to study psychology at Howard University, said that doing projects when she was younger helped her realize what she wanted to pursue in a career.

“I think it’s good for the kids to be exposed to this so that they can have different avenues to figure out what they want to do with their lives,” she said.

By Tiffany Cusaac-Smith

tiffany.cusaac-smith@newsday.com@T_Cusaac

Education: Howard University 

Tiffany Cusaac-Smith came to Newsday in 2023 after being a race and history reporter at USA TODAY, where she wrote enterprise and spot articles examining how the past shapes the present. Previously, she worked as the race and justice reporter at the USA TODAY Network of New York, covering issues such as criminal justice reform, housing, environmental justice, health care and politics. At The Journal News/lohud.com in Westchester County, she covered Yonkers, the state's third-largest city. She also worked at The Associated Press in Atlanta.

Honors and Awards: Criminal justice reporting fellowship with the National Press Foundation;  New York News Publishers Association award for distinguished investigative reporting;  Contributed reporting for Best of Gannett honor; Member of Table Stakes, a program funded by the Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund and managed by the American Press Institute to transform local news.