Idaho Site Contractor Sponsors STEAM Day at Zoo

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – More than 1,250 students who visited the Idaho Falls Zoo in 2021 were treated to a bonus: the opportunity to learn more about science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM).

Fluor Idaho, EM’s contractor at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Site, was the primary sponsor of Family STEAM Day at the Zoo, which catered to the science and art interests of eastern Idaho students.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the usual two-day annual event, which has attracted more than 1,800 students in the past, was expanded to three separate events in May, August, and September.

“We did small STEAM Day events to keep it smaller and safer this year,” said Augusta Grumdhal, education coordinator for the zoo. “We’re hoping to do the two-day event next spring.”

Students were treated to activity stations on skulls and pelts, foil boat building, catapult building, a sheep brain, human circuitry, art projects, a math activity that required the use of coordinates to find specific areas of the zoo, identifying animal tracks, and using math to determine how much food certain animals at the zoo must eat.

New to this year’s event was a silent art auction to raise money for the Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique, which Westside Elementary School fifth graders were reading about in class. The money raised will help fund education, research, and conservation efforts at the park.

Grumdhal said the event was not just beneficial to the national park, but also to the students’ social development.

“Students who were auctioning their art also had to address the audience, which helped with their public speaking skills,” she said.

The silent art auction raised $575.

Family STEAM Day at the Zoo is one of the most popular events that Fluor Idaho sponsors each year as part of its education and community initiatives.