Third graders raise money for STEM Center

By David Nordby The Brillion News Printed in the June 9, 2016 edition of The Brillion News

BRILLION – The highly anticipated Brillion Elementary School STEM Center broke ground in April, but money is still being raised for it.

The money raised has come from area businesses, parents, staff, teachers, alumni and now, the students themselves.

During the month of May the third graders at Brillion Elementary School, led by their teachers Kelly Bohman, Nicole Fischer and Lauri Roskom, learned the value of profit and teamwork while raising money for the community’s future.

Students broke up into 18 business teams and created their own products that would be designed to sell. They researched budgets and costs of different projects, before making a commercial for their team’s product in a presentation to the class.

The class then voted on the various projects and “butterfly bags” won. The bags were filled with a s’more mix – marshmallows, crackers, chocolate chips – and sold to students and staff around the school for money for the STEM Center.

Clothespins with art on them designed to resemble a butterfly were put in the center of the bang with equal wings on both sides.

“My favorite part was the assembly because we got to put the s’more snack mix into it and it was fun making the butterfly clips,” Katie Jones said.

The students were also able to put on their marketing hat creating posters that let the school know what the grade level was doing.

Though the center is being built to help students learn about science, technology, engineering and math, the project gave the students the chance to learn profits, business, teamwork and innovation.

“It was awesome,” Natalie Wittman said. “I was pretty amazed.”

Many students felt they learned how to work better with their classmates following the completion of the project.

“We got to share our ideas … Take a piece from everyone’s idea and then everyone will be happy,” Drew Rosner said.

Please see the complete story in the June 9, 2016 edition of The Brillion News.