The STEAM playground is meant to showcase the different STEAM programs and the handy work they do. These programs consist of engineering, law, health, sports, business, and art. At the playground, students saw moments of fingerprinting, robotics, CPR, and microscopes. Many of these events showed students what many of these STEAMS lead into as they delve into college and deciding their careers. Many teachers and students at ILS find the STEAM playground to be an important event for students in the STEAM program, and also for those not in the STEAM program. 

Senior Health Science teacher, Ms. Mati de Leon, explains her thoughts on the importance of the playground.

Ms. De Leon believes it is important for all students to attend this event because it raises awareness on what the STEAM program is really about and how hard they work to achieve their success. 

Science Department Head, Mrs. Margarita Santana, speaks on the health science track and what it teaches students:

“We are health science and most of the kids in this program are considering going into the medical field in college from physical therapy to doctors, but what they do is study the human body. The beauty of these courses is that you don’t have to want to go into the medical or health science field, but it is about your body and we should always know how our bodies work.”

Mrs. Santana tells students to take these classes as an extra science or elective to learn how the human body works and how it can benefit their future. Mrs. Santana also continues to speak about the STEAM playground and why she finds it important.

She believes that taking these classes as electives is important to offer students other perspectives in careers they may have never thought about, and because some students face career changes throughout their time at ILS and college. 

Another important STEAM area to focus on is the Digital Arts track. In this STEAM path, students focus on different digitally arts and in TV productions. 

Digital Arts teacher and Key Club moderator, Mrs. Elena Capablanca,

Mrs. Elena Capablanca explains how there are multiple sides to the Digital Arts STEAM, and how they chose to impress students by showing them Photoshop, a very important program for the Digital Art class. It is also important to focus on how new faculty handles these events for students.

Since March, the Law Studies program teacher, Ms. Stephanie Leibert has worked at ILS meaning this was her first ever STEAM playground. She explains her feelings on the event after having experienced the playground itself:

Ms. Leibert, who is also a New York attorney found the playground to be very informative and provide an idea for students on what the Law Studies class focuses on. Beyond teachers who run STEAM, its also important to view the opinions of other faculty members to see these events from their own eyes. 

Director of Student Activities, Mrs. Elizabeth Vuono, states her opinion on what differentiates the playground from other student activities at ILS:

Mrs. Vuono believes this event is an important connection between students and how they teach one another on their specific STEAM while having no academic stress by simply enjoying what they are doing. 

Beyond faculty, many students throughout all four grades at ILS experienced the playground and felt a mix of emotions. 

Senior Lara Torrens explains her emotions and excitement over the STEAM playground event:

Lara found the playground very educational while at the same time fun and exciting. She hopes it continues to have more success in the future and that students think about attending the upcoming STEAM events.