Students in the STEM Club at W. T. Moore Elementary School were in awe over the experiments involving color crawling and chemical reactions at their first meeting for the school year.
FAMU Dreamers lead a variety of STEM-related activities once a week to students in grades K-5.
FAMU Dreamers is a nonprofit organization which seeks to expose, enrich and enlighten Tallahassee’s youth in the areas of STEM, fine arts and entrepreneurship.
The organization’s main goal is to empower as many students as possible.
Teylor Parks, president and junior business administration student, took to Instagram to announce the arrival of FAMU’s newest youth mentoring organization.
Parks was part of a mentorship program in high school that resulted in her wanting to create her own program to give back to her community.
“The minority students here in Tallahassee are underserved. FAMU Dreamers will allow us to fill in the gap between the students and the community,” said Parks.
FAMU Dreamers offers volunteering opportunities three days a week, with three different schools. Every other week they will be visiting their partner schools and hosting interactive lessons.
The partner schools include Apalachee Tapestry Magnet School, W. T. Moore and Woodville.
The students at W.T. Moore Elementary in grades K-2 participated in a rainbow milk experiment. It is a basic color theory for kids that consists of color mixing with dye, soap, and milk.
“I learned that when you mix soap with dyes and milk it makes it go boom,” said Payton, a 7 year-old second grader. “I can’t wait for them to come back.”
Students in third through fifth grades conducted a more advanced experiment, sparking explosion; teaching them about chemical reactions.
Rebekah Hawkins, a junior business administration major said, “The children were eager to learn about the activities we had planned and interested in learning more about science. They all came in with an open mind, patience and were able to work well together through the activity.”
According to Do Something, students studying or participating in the arts are four times more likely to be awarded for school achievement. STEM occupations will grow exponentially by 8.9 percent within the next six years, according to Economics and Statistics Administration.
When FAMU Dreamers are not participating in mentoring events, they are doing community service throughout Tallahassee. They also participate in fundraising events to fund the supplies needed for the enrichment activities.