The STEM Scouts program is a co-ed pilot program created by the Boy Scouts of America that allows kids to do fun, hands-on activities focused on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. The kids meet in groups called labs once a week and learn from local STEM Professionals. The Samoset Council will be adding labs in Merrill, Three Lakes, Weston, and Rhinelander in addition to the 38 labs already running across the council. There will be brand new activities for the youth to enjoy at the three different age levels.

The elementary labs will make and explore some of the most fun polymers and non-Newtonian substances, like slime, bouncing balls, silly sand, and more. Scouts will learn about endothermic reactions as they experiment with different recipes for making ice cream, and they will get to eat their experiments! The labs will be working with the Edison Robots. The Edison Robot is a new educational robot that was designed to make it easy for youth to learn how to operate and write custom programs. Scouts will learn how fluids exert forces on moving objects. They will use the STEM Scouts Engineering Design Process to explore and design several different projects using moving air. These are only a few examples of the fun, hands on activities the elementary level STEM Scouts will in engage in.

The Middle and High School Lab activities include but are not limited to exploring mBot. The mBot allows the Scouts to explore how motion, lights, sounds, and sensors are used to control the actions of their robot. They will use the Scratch Blockly programming environment to work collaboratively with their team to solve challenges during each meeting.

Scouts will learn how to optimize the speed of a racing car. They will discover what friction is and how it affects the performance of a car, and they will learn about propulsion, acceleration and deceleration, and rocket-powered vehicles. They will design several race courses, build model cars to run on those race courses, and race each other.

All Youth in grades 3-8 are invited to join STEM Scouts. STEM Scouts is a co-ed program that allows youth to explore STEM topics through hands-on experimentation and teamwork. To join the Rhinelander Middle School Lab attend the Sign Up Night on September 27^th at 6 pm at Nicolet College Red Oak Room 111. To join a Rhinelander Elementary School lab go to Central Elementary on October 23^rd at 6 pm or NCES on October 25^th at 6pm. Have questions please contact Amanda Flannery at stemscouts@samoset.org .