Outreach Events
STEM for Seniors
Our outreach program is dedicated to creating opportunities for all ages. 2 years ago, we started the STEM for Seniors program to not just stimulate mental cognition at senior care centers, but also bridge generational divides between students and the elderly.
This year, we expanded to reach three senior care centers, with two additional facilities already in contact for future workshops. As part of our workshops, student volunteers lead activities such as mini-drone/ robot projects, snap circuits, and stem kits, helping seniors engage in problem-solving and mental exercises. The learning goes both ways. Students learn from the seniors’ experiences, while the elderly gain confidence in STEM.
4-H Fair
Our team has been actively engaging the community through robot demonstrations and STEM-focused activity tables at the 4-H Fair since 2018. The fair is a vibrant community event featuring commercial vendors, art competitions, rides, and opportunities for Hunterdon County residents to connect with one another.
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This year, we invited Team 75 to showcase their robots alongside ours, and spark excitement about STEM. Our members demonstrated our 2025 season robot, attracting children by shooting rings for them to catch. Meanwhile, on the other side of the tent, we offered interactive tables where visitors could program robots to draw patterns, enjoy robot-themed coloring pages, and create binary code bracelets.
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This outreach event provided a dynamic platform to highlight our team’s innovations while inspiring enthusiasm for STEM fields. By participating in such a diverse community gathering, we not only demonstrated our robot’s capabilities but also strengthened awareness of our team and reaffirmed our commitment to STEM education and community engagement.
Grow-a-Row
Our team organized a meaningful outreach event named "Grow-Row," where we actively participated in harvesting cabbage to provide essential food resources for the underprivileged. Through collective effort, we successfully picked 500,000 cabbages. This initiative not only demonstrated our commitment to community service but also made a significant impact in addressing food insecurity by contributing to those in need. Our team takes pride in leveraging our skills and resources to make a positive difference and support the well-being of the underprivileged in our community.
Hunterdon County Library Makerspace
We also forged a valuable partnership with the Hunterdon County Library Maker Space, playing a pivotal role in setting up their new VEX Robot kits and subsequently conducting three enriching sessions of VEX Robotics. Particularly noteworthy was our engagement with homeschooled children aged 7-12, where our members served as mentors, guiding these eager learners through the intricacies of building and programming robots. This initiative proved instrumental in exposing 20 students to the captivating world of STEM, fostering their curiosity and igniting a passion for exploration and innovation.
Gingerbreadgineering
Our team organized a festive and educational outreach event called "Gingerbreadgineering" at the Flemington Presbyterian Church, infusing the holiday spirit with engaging Christmas-themed STEM activities. Participants had the opportunity to delve into hands-on projects, including crafting gingerbread houses, participating in a candy slingshot challenge, and constructing marshmallow igloos. Through this innovative event, we not only spread the joy of the season but also successfully promoted STEM education creatively and interactively, fostering a sense of excitement and curiosity within our local community.
School STEM Clubs
Nine years ago, we established a relationship with a local elementary school; Barley Sheaf Elementary School, to mentor their after-school STEM clubs. This initiative was so successful that we expanded to even more local elementary schools. These partnerships have allowed us to nurture an excitement for STEM in hundreds of young children. Our increased focus on outreach and service inspired our student leaders to establish a service expectation for all members. The team has developed a diverse outreach program including STEM mentorship, demonstrations, and participation in other charitable programs.
STEM Curriculum
This innovative curriculum is designed to empower students with limited resources by utilizing step-by-step instructional videos available in both Portuguese and English that members of our team created. The curriculum covers essential online tools, including document creation, presentations, emails, and coding basics. By bridging language barriers and providing accessible resources, our team aims to democratize STEM education and empower students in Brazil to navigate the digital landscape. Thereby fulfilling our mission of fostering STEM locally, and making a difference globally.
FLL & FLL Jr. Teams Mentored in Our Community
The 5 FLL teams meet weekly at Flemington Presbyterian Church which offers their youth space through one of our team administrators. While our 4 adult coaches provide administrative oversight, our student mentors facilitate these meetings by providing instruction on programming, research, and presentation techniques. Daleks model leadership and adherence to Core Values as the FLL members grow into their roles on the team. This develops our FIRST pipeline, where middle school students are eager to continue their participation in FIRST by joining our FRC team or FTC programs in the area.
Environmental Outreach
This year, we expanded our outreach to 2 food pantries: one in Flemington, our hometown, and another in Lambertville. Daleks support this mission of eliminating food insecurity by distributing food and other necessities, packing food bags, as well as organizing pantries behind the scenes. In Lambertville, we also provided help towards the building and maintaining of a community garden.
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Broadening our impact, this year we plan on implementing a project targeting an environmental problem in our school community. Floating wetland islands are platforms that act as water filters in bodies of water using native plants that grow hydroponically. Our school has a pond area that collects nutrients from the fertilized fields uphill. However, excess nutrients in water lead to large amounts of algae growth and eventually mass amounts of algae death, taking up huge amounts of dissolved oxygen from the water. Without any intervention, these bodies of water cease to sustain any aquatic life. To mitigate this issue, the plants on floating wetland islands take up those excess nutrients and use them for their own growth.