Three Wauconda High seniors launch new STEM club

Their motto is to explain why things happen.

That was the goal of Wauconda High School seniors Connor Latham, John Farwick, and Jake Ribich when they proposed starting a STEM Club - Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics - at their school this year.

"Students always say, 'Why are we learning this. What is the point of this?'" Farwick said. "The point of the STEM club is to answer all those questions."

The three have had a passion for math and science years before high school. Latham and Farwick enjoy the building process - they've worked with remote-control cars and planes for many years - while Ribich said his passion centers around the mathematics and studying the methods it takes to make advances.

"I'm always interested in how to make it fly better and why it flies than actually building it and making it fly," Ribich said.

Farwick said discoveries are constantly being made in the math and science fields. Often, these discoveries are made by college undergraduates who receive support by being involved in science groups.

"If we can get kids to start thinking like that in high school, in college they will be far beyond everyone else," he said.

Physics teacher George Bays, who advises the STEM club, said he wanted to join the boys' efforts to help students expand their use of math and science outside the classroom.

"By creating this, it gives students the possibility to do something they don't have normally in the classroom," Bays said.

Putting up posters to advertise the first meeting, held in September, the boys were shocked by the turnout.

"We got to the first meeting and there were 66 kids at the first meeting," Farwick said. "After the first meeting, there were another 20 kids who came up to Mr. Bays and said, 'sign us up.' Our active email list is now 84."

Latham said often the mathematics and science fields are dominated by males, but many girls also are joining their club

"We're showing that we can accomplish great things in this field too and we can get involved," junior Hannah Pichman said.

The club is divided among six subject studies: medicine, programming, engineering, mathematics competitions and logic puzzles, rocketry and robotics.

In the rocketry group, Farwick explained, students are studying the history of space programs, including NASA, the Russian and European space programs.

The group's first rocket launch was a success, Bays said, but it didn't end well.

"We went on a back soccer field and the wind took the rocket when it went up and it landed in a pond somewhere. After 45 minutes of searching, I called off the search," Bays said. "It is part of the learning experience. With rockets, there are so many things that can go wrong."

Often, groups within STEM, such as the mathematics and robotics, will prepare for and enter competitions. That's been difficult to do in the club's infancy due to the registration fees required and limited funding, Farwick said.

To start a funding source for the club, the boys created a Go Fund Me account. So far, they've raised more than $800.

"It is super useful," Latham said. "For a club that needs electronics, that goes by incredibly fast."

Farwick added, "That has challenged our creativity because we have to do all these projects with the cheapest materials, and that is kinda cool."

For example, he said, in a recent engineering group competition, the teams were instructed to build the tower that could hold the most force using straws.

Ultimately, the boys hope that with more funding and the members' creativity, they will be able to collaborate and develop amazing work.

As a high school student, Bays said he remembers working with friends after school to build a hovercraft from scratch. It was quite a creation, featuring wires that would occasionally touch and zap you. He wants to give that type of experience to these students, to build something from scratch.

"As the adviser, I want to give the students the opportunity to go through this the best I can, to let them experience that, to gain that knowledge and that practice," he said. "You can have an idea, but you have to execute."

Farwick said their hope is the club becomes something the students not only enjoy, but a place all kids should join. Students often go to science or math class because they have to, but dread it.

"We want them to get more excited about it and to want to go," Latham said.

Ribich expects while they will graduate this spring, the members' enthusiasm will keep this club moving ahead. He recalled an example of their enthusiasm. At a meeting planned at 8 a.m. on a day off of school, 65 kids showed up.

"This is a group of kids who are incredibly passionate, and that's why we have so much hope and why I'm super glad we made the club," Farwick said.