Por Dave Schwab

Students Downtown will go crazy for science March 14 – 21 at the seventh annual San Diego Festival of Science & Engineering.

During that week, some 80,000 people will participate in STEM-related activities and workshops countywide, culminating in an Expo Day at Petco Park on March 21.

STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math. Those subjects are an educational focus because the skills and knowledge in each discipline are essential for student success in the real world in the technology-driven 21st century.

The San Diego Festival of Science & Engineering is a program of the BIOCOM Institute in partnership with UC San Diego, Reuben H. Fleet Science Center and the San Diego County Office of Education. It aims to encourage and get kids excited about science and related fields to inspire them to become tomorrow’s STEM innovators.

The festival, presented by Illumina, also helps continue the San Diego region’s reputation of being a leader in the science industry. The goal of the festival is to show how science and engineering is “right in our backyard.”

“We all know San Diego is a hotbed for scientific innovation, in a region which offers a uniquely collaborative spirit, high concentration of world-class research institutions, and a strong foundation for new company creation and development,” said Sara Pagano, the festival’s managing director. “Our festival is a catalyst to transfer that knowledge and collaboration to show students and their parents how science translates into careers and further fuels our economy in San Diego County.”

Noting the festival was originally started with a grant from the National Science Foundation, Pagano said the event was adopted by the nonprofit BIOCOM Institute three years ago.

Pagano said there’s something for everybody during the weeklong series of science and engineering-related activities.

“Events range from tours of companies to a speaking series to hands-on activities that families and students can attend,” she said.

“We expect to have 25,000 people in attendance at that event, that has more than 100 different hands-on exhibitor booths,” she said, adding that each student booth will be interactive and instructive, featuring “a different concept within STEM.”

Washington Elementary School on State Street — one of this year’s participants and a big winner at the festival last year — is one of the oldest elementary schools in Downtown San Diego. It is also one of the few elementary schools in the county focusing on both STEM and STEAM, which encourages the integration of art and design with STEM.

Rodger N. Ashworth, a magnet science resource teacher at Washington, said the festival is an opportunity for people of all ages to get turned on to science and technology.

“What we try to do is teach an interdisciplinary approach to real-world problems,” Ashworth said. “Students use all the disciplines [STEM] to create a solution for a problem that teaches them to be critical thinkers and problem solvers.”

The Expo is a great icebreaker, enabling people to become better acquainted with science, Ashworth said.

“It’s one of the biggest events in the city for kids,” he said. “It draws families together to share a lot of good, positive things about education. Part of that involvement is from the business community and the private sector.”

Noting STEM is “the reason I’m a teacher,” Ashworth said the curriculum “allows us to do fun and interactive things.”

Ashworth’s fifth grade students will have an exhibit booth at the Expo that exemplifies their use of STEM, featuring interactive arcade-style games that the students both designed and built themselves.

“[It helps them] learn together as a team employing the scientific method and engineering principles.”

BIOCOM’s Pagano said the festival showcases the STEM career paths that San Diego has to offer and could lead to the creation of “a future workforce here in San Diego that really sparks innovation.”

The festival’s signature event is the Expo Day on March 21, with more than 130 local businesses, corporations, and organizations providing interactive, hands-on science, technology, engineering and math exhibits and activities to budding K-12 science lovers.

For more information, visit the festival website at lovestemsd.org or call 858-455-0300 ext. 104. You can also find STEM on Facebook y Gorjeo.

—Dave Schwab came to San Diego 30 years ago with a journalism degree from Michigan State University and has worked and freelanced for numerous dailies, weeklies and other regional publications. He can be reached at dschwabie@journalist.com