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An opportunity for kids to explore activities relating to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) featured such thematic snacks as Smarties and Nerds.

Bemidji State University students and local volunteers guided the children through a wide range of fun, learning activities during the Park Rapids Area Library鈥檚 鈥淪uperstars of STEM鈥� event on Saturday, April 20, at the Event Room.

The event started with ample time for a large number of children and their families to explore such toys as Cubetto the coding robot, tasting either bitter or flavorless strips of paper to find out about a genetic trait, looking at bugs and bacteria under magnification, and finding out how plumbers fit lengths of PEX (cross-linked polyethylene) pipe together.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a durable plastic, meant to last for 50 years for homes and businesses,鈥� said Kate Olinger with Uponor, a plumbing manufacturer based in Apple Valley, Minn.

Olinger showed kiddos how to use gadgets that can temporarily stretch one end of a pipe to insert a fitting, and heal a pipe that has become kinked. As she worked with the kids, she also dropped hints about the availability of future careers in trades such as plumbing.

Dr. Holly LaFerriere, a BSU biology professor, showed up with a group of her students equipped with microscopes and other fun science projects, while the library showcased learning toys 鈥� some of which reside at the library, while others were given away as door prizes.

These prizes included 鈥淪pace Rover,鈥� a programmable toy car; a set of magnetic tiles for building more complicated shapes; 鈥淭he Great Treehouse Engineering Adventure,鈥� National Geographic鈥檚 Magnetic Marble Run, a rock science kit, a rocketry kit, a microscope, and such books as 鈥淲omen in Science鈥� and 鈥淭ry Not To Laugh Challenge: Nerdy Joke Book.鈥�

1/10: Amber Solberg of Park Rapids guides a group of young scientists in programming Cubetto, a space robot, using a coding panel that uses plastic pieces to program is movements. Robin Fish / Park Rapids Enterprise

2/10: Jaxson Wetmore, 7, of Park Rapids looks at fruit flies through a magnifying glass. Robin Fish / Park Rapids Enterprise

3/10: Derek Pinnick of Fargo and his daughter, Annie, age 10, assemble a working model of a cardboard hand using tendons made pieces of string and drinking straws. Robin Fish / Park Rapids Enterprise

4/10: Leo Enger, 7, of Park Rapids looks at bacteria samples through a binocular microscope with Bemidji State University student Danielle Torkkola and his grandma, Kathy Maroney. Robin Fish / Park Rapids Enterprise

5/10: Bemidji State University student Makaela LaFerriere leads sisters Abby, 10, and Rebecca Marsden, 17, of Park Rapids through the PTC paper experiment, looking for evidence of a genetic trait affecting one's ability to taste the bitter compound phenylthiocarbamide. "Depending on if you're able to taste the paper or not, you would be dominant or recessive for the trait," said LaFerriere. Robin Fish / Park Rapids Enterprise

6/10: Kate Olinger with Apple Valley-based plumbing manufacturer Uponor demonstrates how to connect pieces of PEX (cross-linked polyethylene) pipe with parents Zach and Deann Hemenway and son Owen, 4, of Park Rapids. Robin Fish / Park Rapids Enterprise

7/10: Skye Cloutier, 9, mom Paula Preston and Thomas Appel, 9, make their own playdough during Saturday's STEM event at the Event Room. "It's really good," Appel said of the event. Robin Fish / Park Rapids Enterprise

8/10: Making their own playdough together during Saturday's STEM event are, from front, Milo Enger, 5, Christian Coauette, 6, Kendall Coauette, 4 and Maggie Coauette. Robin Fish / Park Rapids Enterprise

9/10: Visenya Lynde, 2, and Bob Lynde of Park Rapids play with the "Space Rover" coding toy during Saturday's STEM event. According to Park Rapids Area Library branch manager Jodi Schultz, the library bought one copy of the toy for its own use and another to give away as a door prize. Robin Fish / Park Rapids Enterprise

10/10: A young scientist experiments with wheels descending a series of ramps on a magnetic white board during the kids' hands-on portion of Saturday's STEM event at the Event Room in Park Rapids. Robin Fish / Park Rapids Enterprise

鈥淚 am happy to see as many people here as there are,鈥� said library branch manager Jodi Schultz as kids built towners, rolled wheels down ramps, built systems of gears and made their own playdough.

"I think it was so well set up,鈥� said Kay Dent, who brought three of her granddaughters to the event. 鈥淭he Event Room is a perfect venue for this. The library is constantly bringing good events for the youth, all the way from pre-K to 18 today, to our area. We can go to it without traveling out of town. They're always well-run, and it's always free. We go to almost everyone."

Later in the event, Schulz acknowledged funding from the Bloom Family Foundation and the family of the late Barbara Ranson, a library patron and BSU math professor who inspired the event鈥檚 theme of women in STEM.

NASA engineer Dr. Veronica Pinnick talked about her involvement in NASA鈥檚 exploration of the solar system. Pinnick leads a team at NASA鈥檚 Goddard Space Flight Center that built a molecule analyzer for the Rosalind Franklin Rover, a science robot that is scheduled to launch in 2028 to study the mineral composition of Mars.

Pinnick also talked about the Curiosity Rover, already 12 years into its mission to study Mars, and the PACE mission, which put a satellite in orbit to study the ocean ecosystem.

鈥淚'm very excited to always be an ambassador of science and show people what their taxpayer dollars are going toward, toward learning about the solar system, about our place in it,鈥� said Pinnick, adding that the event was about 鈥渟howing not just girls, but girls and boys, role models of females being in science, technology, engineering and math, all the STEM fields. Just trying to show a representative sample of what it looks like to have females in these industries."

Toward the end of the event, Pinnick joined LaFerriere, Olinger and Minnesota Department of Natural Resources regional ecologist Becky Marty in a discussion about being women in leadership roles in the world of STEM.

They discussed what inspired them to go into their fields, the support and pushback they received, the thin line between being perceived as 鈥渁ggressive鈥� vs. 鈥渁ssertive鈥� as they progressed, and how getting results can put an end to that balancing act. They also agreed that good communication skills can have an important role in a STEM career.

鈥淢y daughter is studying physics at the College of St. Benedict,鈥� said Olinger. 鈥淪he also has her minor in writing, and I think that is an awesome combo, because (I鈥檝e told her) the person that can communicate the best is the one that gets funded.

鈥淚t鈥檚 so important to be able to tell your story, because that鈥檚 what people connect with and listen to, when you think about communicating environmental change or other things. It鈥檚 a story that someone is going to remember, rather than the data. So, having that data underneath and then being able to tell that story (in) plain language, that鈥檚 what connects.鈥�