Pirates enjoy schoolwide STEM Day

Students and staff at Paintbrush Elementary got a full dose of curiosity and creativity last week as the school filled with STEM visitors from near and far!

From the University of Wyoming to Teton County, Keyhole State Park, Dubois, and right here in Campbell County, experts stepped into classrooms to share their passion and spark new perspectives for students.

With more than a dozen hands-on stations, students rotated through different classrooms all day long. They also uncovered some pretty fascinating facts along the way:

Strawberries are an octoploid, meaning they have eight sets of chromosomes compared to a human’s two sets!

Bats have incredibly long “fingers.” Hold out your arms. If our fingers were proportionate to a bat's, they would touch the ground.

The more “folds” a brain has, the more information it can store.

The day was filled with great questions, but one moment stood out for presenter Abby Cargill, a Gillette graduate who was teaching a lesson on brain science:

“Do humans eat brains?” she recalled, when asked about the most memorable question of the day. “That was an interesting one.”

Students discovered that in some parts of the world, animal brains are considered a delicacy. While the answer was still a firm no from Cargill, it definitely made for a memorable lesson.

From surprising facts to unforgettable questions, Friday’s STEM Takeover had it all. And the Pirates dove right in, asking big questions and maybe even discovering a few future career paths.

Thank you to all of the presenters who took time to share their passions with our students. We hope the day was just as fun for you as it was for our Pirates!