Littleton High School Sophomore Prianka Sarathy displays her STEM Challenge project, a water jug trash filter she made with partner and fellow LHS mentor Maddy Shea. (Photo Courtesy Littleton Public Schools) 
Sadie McNaught, a first-grader at Shaker Lane School, displays her STEM Challenge project, “Sadie’s Scooper,” a scooper made from a spinach container. (Photo Courtesy Littleton Public Schools) 
Ryan Pittorino, a sixth-grader at Littleton Middle School, displays his STEM Challenge project, a trash collector made from water bottles and cardboard. (Photo Courtesy Littleton Public Schools) 
Maddie Saunders, a third-grader at Russell Street School, displays her STEM Challenge project, “Frog Boat,” a raft for frogs that was made from a dog treat box. (Photo Courtesy Littleton Public Schools)
LITTLETON — Superintendent Kelly Clenchy wishes to share with the community the success of the first Districtwide STEM Challenge this month.
About 250 students participated in the month-long “Make Every Frog Count” project, which asked students to think like engineers and invent tools to keep Littleton’s ponds, lakes and streams clean for aquatic life.
Students in grades pre-K to 12 were asked to use theEngineering Design Process to imagine, plan and build their projects, and refine them after receiving feedback. Students in grades 9-12 also served as mentors to students in lower grades. Projects were shared at a virtual showcase and closing ceremony on Friday, April 16.
K-5 STEM Integration Specialist Heidi MacGregor, Instructional Technology Coordinator Julie Lord, and Russell Street School Assistant Principal Andrea Romano collaborated on and organized the Challenge.
“Our mentors led the way by leaving supportive comments for the participants, which inspired many of our elementary participants to do the same,” MacGregor said. “It is truly a goosebumps moment to see students in different grades across our district react and respond to each other with genuine encouragement and enthusiasm for creative problem solving.”
Sahasra Ayalasomayajula, a third-grader at Russell Street School, said, “I had fun watching other people’s videos. I learned words from the high school mentors like versatile, essentially and accessible. It made me feel like I was getting smarter and smarter.”
“How much fun I had watching everyone’s videos and seeing all the cool ideas that everyone has come up with,” said Littleton High School Senior Tyler Merrill, who also served as a mentor. “In my design I actually took some inspiration from a lot of the ideas and some other stuff that I’ve seen in my regular day life.”
For their Challenge project, Littleton Middle School sixth-graders Eva Bridge and Kat Kane created a town-wide litter cleanup campaign. With support from the Littleton PTA, the students have set a goal of collecting and logging 3,000 pieces of trash by the scheduled end of the school year on Monday, June 21.
Residents are invited to take part in this effort by downloading the Litterati global litter collection app and joining their campaign with code 872197.