Name: Sarah Macintyre
Title: Manager, Ottawa Public Library

We reached out to monthly donor and past volunteer Board Chair, Sarah Macintyre to find out why she chooses to support the STEAM Education Centre and how you can too!

When did you get involved with STEAM?
"I was involved at the very beginning when the idea first came up as a possibility. It was just a few folks in a room with a little bit of seed funding. We felt as though St Thomas had a good energy but there was a gap - there was no tech hub. The STEAM Centre started as a way to help youth maximize their potential in St Thomas... At the time, I managed the technology department at St. Thomas Public Library, so it was a natural fit."

During the time you were on the board what was your favourite memory?
"For me what was most rewarding, was getting to work with such great people. When I look back to all the positive things, watching the folks, stakeholders and other board members show up to the meetings and really giving it their all. Getting to know the team. It's special when you have a variety of people with different backgrounds come together because of something that they all believe in."

You’ve been a regular monthly donor. What made you decide to give first donation?
"I guess the very first donation I gave was the gift of time.  It's where I started. I was attending the meetings, participating in Doors Open St Thomas and getting involved with the STEAM Centre. When you are in the role of the Board Chair, especially for a non profit organization, a fair bit of that role is fund development. You cannot approach community organizations about giving money if you are not actually doing it yourself. Early on I said I have to put my money where my mouth is so I became a monthly donor."

What keeps you donating even though you moved away?
"It's an easy way to support the Centre, and it has just become a regular part of my budget. I don't have to think about it because it's automatically set up. At the end of the year I get the full year tax receipt, and it’s easy to manage. For me, it may be a small gesture, but for the STEAM Centre I know that monthly donations are a great place to start, and that they are an important part of ongoing fund development. Just because I moved away doesn't mean that the STEAM Centre stops existing! All of the great reasons I got involved in the first place are still there, and I want to continue to support the community, this project, and the program. There is no reason to stop; I believed in it then and I believe in it now."

There are so many charities.  Why consider the STEAM Centre to donate to?
"When we have opportunities in our lives to give back I think it is vitally important. What is really great about the Steam Centre is that when you do give your money you are able to see the impact of that. You are able to see in your community the difference that dollar has made. You see the programs that they are running, you see the teens and people being positively impacted by their services. I know that the outcomes are not just kids playing with technology - the outcome of supporting a program like this is supporting things like university readiness, and career development in kids and teens. 
Having an innovation mindset is key for our students to really grasp what that means, especially as our society starts to deal with tremendous problems like climate change. I think the kind of curiosity that an organization like the STEAM Centre fosters in our community cannot be understated. You give money to an organization and you really see the kind of good that it is doing. I really think it can't be beat."
​
In your opinion what is the most important thing the organization does?
"I think that it is connecting with the youth. I think that the STEAM Centre's strength and value they bring to the community is that they offer a unique service, a unique experience.  They are connecting the teens and the students to a new way of thinking, a new way of problem solving, which is so  important. It’s making sure that the students and participants leave their programs feeling inspired and feeling as though this is something that they could get involved in in the future."

Join Sarah and become a monthly donor today at:
 www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/steam-education-centres-incorporated/?sm=1








​

Student volunteer, Shukri Matan is featured as the STEAM Student of the Month at 
​https://www.stthomastoday.ca/steam-student-of-the-month/
Supported by MYFM 94.1 and Williams Funeral Home Limited
Shukri is volunteering with our STEAM Community Studio Virtual Marketplace project with the goal of helping downtown St Thomas businesses get more online presence and recognition. Stay tuned for a downtown wide instagram event coming soon!

We would like to welcome Kalin Forgie, Katie Franklin, and Lauren McNair from Environmental Health Sciences: Environmental Health Promotions 3rd year program 3rd at Western University! These students are working to tackle building a prototype plan for a Reuse model at the St Thomas Community Recycling Centre (CRC).  The plan was suggested to the STEAM Centre by the City of St Thomas.  The students have worked on learning the Design Thinking process with Director of Education Fred Cahill, Research Methodology with St Thomas Library Fundraising & Outreach Coordinator, Amelia Bainbridge and have been able to meet with industry expert Michelle Shannon, Waste Management Coordinator of the CRC and City of St Thomas engineer Justin Lawrence. Using the information and training provided they are busy developing a plan for a waste reuse model  that will have a positive environmental impact in the St Thomas area.  The students are compiling a report to be presented to City Council for review. 

​

The OTF grant will allow for the acquisition of:

• Software Licences
• 3-in-1 Laser/Router/CNC machine
• A creality UV curing and cleaning tool for creating amazingly precise 3D prints
• Graphics tablet 
• Shaper origin and its workstation ( a robotically controlled cutter that can move across surfaces)
• Laptops
• Maker tools like hand tools including drills 
• 3D Printer filament
• Paint brushes and art supplies/consumable materials
• Conductive sewing thread
• Clay and clay dye
• Leather
• Safety Equipment

The Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) is an agency of the Government of Ontario, and one of Canada’s leading granting foundations. OTF awarded $108 million to 629 projects last year to build healthy and vibrant communities in Ontario. ​

STEAM Education Centre and Antler River elementary school from the Chippewa of the Thames First Nation have joined forces to inspire digital literacy among elementary communities through the newly created iSTEAM program.  Thanks to generous donations from Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) and the Ontario Trillium Foundation the multi-week year long program has the Centre provide weekly sessions where the students get to build on S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art design ,Math) based skills and combine its relevance with indigenous storytelling and teachings and curriculum ties. 

In the first session students were taught about the concept of the how and the why of the sky and that hidden in plain sight is all the wonder of the world.  The idea of exploring that we are in this amazing, invisible fluid all day that sustains us and we ignore it but it is what we breathe and what allows all flying things to have a chance to fly, float and soar in this graceful interaction with gravity and energy. The first challenge when discussing flight dynamics was to create an object out of paper that would stay afloat in a built air tube.  This could be a paper airplane modified in various ways or a helicopter using a pattern provided to the students.  They could also test to see how throwing the paper flight objects by hand would vary in glide time and distance so that they can alter their design as needed.

The overarching theme of the how and why of the sky was further set to engage the students through the celebration of the Chippewa of the Thames First Nation's story of the Thunderbird.  The students were also provided with bird flyer kits that were designed at the STEAM Centre on Corel Draw software and moi3D. After repeated flight tests of the various designs these bird flyer kits were then laser cut out of foam core and added metal washers to aid in the balancing. Students were encouraged to assemble and use art design to make their bird unique .Many took them home to complete and reported working on the designs with their family members. "The school partnership with STEAM is "bringing families together. Empowering students and engaging adults." -Jeff Clark, Antler River Elementary School teacher