We were once again privileged to host an international group of women in science & technology at Jemison. This year eight ladies from Colombia, Costa Rica, Greece, Guatemala, Jordan, Morocco, Republic of Korea, and Pakistan participated in the State Department program. 

The group first came up to the robotics lab (second floor in the College Academy) and spoke with the students about the team and the robotics program. The visitors each told their story about what they do while the students listened with interest.

We then took the group to see the Advanced manufacturing where they saw the 3D printers they have down there and learned about the Greenpower car, Mechatronics, and Welding programs.

We finished the visit with a group photo under the Mae Jemison portrait in the main hallway. The students were so engaged in the visitors that several exchanged email addresses before the day was out.

We attended the Huntsville Science Festival, better known as STEAMfest, for the fourth time. Originally the festival was at the VBC and had around 40 vendors. Now it's too big for the VBC with almost 100 vendors. It was held at the Orion Amphitheater this year!

There were several robotics teams in attendance. Some had their own booths. FIRST Robotics had a large booth in front of the amphitheater stage. We participated in the FIRST booth.

Almost all the booths were hands-on for the attendees. We let children drive one of our robots while supervising them carefully for safety. Our prototype swerve chassis had the speed turned down so if it did get away from us it would not be likely to hurt anyone.

All the students had the chance to go around to all the exhibits when they weren't helping out at our booth. The Cave Sim activity was a favorite of our students. There were many, many more interactive STEM booths for everyone to enjoy. The students were tired after our 10AM-4 PM day, but everyone had a great time!