By Jim Davis - Florida Catholic
Photographer: Courtesy
This picture was produced by a team of students from St. Gregory School for the art contest at the annual Sister John Norton STEAMS Day, Feb. 24 at St. Thomas Aquinas High.
FORT LAUDERDALE | Students found a literal escape from regular studies as they took part in the recent Sister John Norton STEAMS Competition, held at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic High School.
The annual event, Feb. 24 this year, challenged the youths in contests based on STEAM-oriented education: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Ten students from each of the nine participating schools took part in the competition, together with their coaches and teachers.
Photographer: Courtesy
Students from Saint Anthony's Catholic School work working on the art contest at the annual Sister John Norton STEAMS Day, Feb. 24 at St. Thomas Aquinas High. From left are Mia Ravasio, Emily Rios, Sophie Valdes-Grillo and Ana Mueses.
Included were such specialties as drones, robotics, art and religion. In the Escape Room event, teams of students were assigned individual classrooms to “escape.” They had a few minutes to solve puzzles in order to leave the rooms.
Puzzles included finding a 2 in a pack of cards, finding dominoes that added up to 8, and playing a Yahtzee game in which some of the rows weren't filled out.
Artistic offerings at the competition had groups of students produce a prayer service based on the theme of “Healing Divisions Through Peace, Community and Hope.” The students had to cite Scripture and/or Catholic documents, such as Laudato si, Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical on social and environmental issues.
Campus Ministry students led prayer for the day’s events. All together, the 53rd annual event involved about 350 people.
The school also showed off its Anatomage, a touch-sensitive table that shows the bones, nerves, organs and other parts of a human cadaver.
Main goal is “connecting students and teachers across the archdiocese, and providing a platform for students to have fun and be creative,” according to Jane Spanich, a theology teacher and STEAMS director at St. Thomas Aquinas.
The competition was named for the late Sister John Norton, who launched a series of “Math Field Days” after coming to St. Thomas Aquinas in 1966. Sister Norton served as a math teacher for 14 years, then as vice principal from 1971 to 1996.
