Emmerson Jones, a fifth-grade pupil at Knoch Intermediate Elementary College, tries out a pair of photo voltaic eclipse glasses donated to the varsity by the Mars Robotics Affiliation, whereas fifth-grade trainer Krisann Lambert, proper, watches Wednesday, March 27. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
The Mars Robotics Affiliation teaches college students in grades 4 by 12 Science, Know-how, Engineering and Math (STEM) abilities, however the college students additionally achieve enterprise abilities and advertising classes within the course of. Eclipse glasses designed by an affiliation pupil, who additionally attends Butler County Space Vocational-Technical College, mixed enterprise data with a scientific goal.
Jeff Beckstead, president and mentor of the Mars Robotics Affiliation, mentioned the scholars weren’t solely excited to create eclipse glasses, they had been excited to have them printed and donated on a large scale to elementary-age college students.
“They had been very enthusiastic about doing it,” Beckstead mentioned. “They’re used to the enterprise side of creating a product and promoting it.”
The affiliation distributed about 3,500 eclipse glasses to elementary college students at Mars, Knoch and St. Luke’s Lutheran faculties. The opposite 1,500 glasses produced by the affiliation, Beckstead mentioned, are being offered at companies within the Mars space, together with Mars Agway, Stick Metropolis Brewing Firm, Valencia Donuts on Route 8 and the Speckled Hen. The cash earned by the sale of the glasses is paying for the associated fee to provide the glasses, and a few additionally will go towards Mars Robotics Affiliation actions.
In accordance with Beckstead, some members of the robotics affiliation could watch the eclipse April 8 in Mars, alongside many different individuals trying to expertise a “Martian” eclipse. He mentioned the scholars are wanting ahead to seeing individuals in the neighborhood view the eclipse by glasses they helped produce.
“A part of the robotics group doing that is studying enterprise abilities,” he mentioned. “We use robots, but it surely’s actually extra about what the scholars can do; neighborhood help is our essential focus.”
The eclipse glasses are additionally accessible to buy on-line, by visiting the Mars Robotics Affiliation’s web site at marsroboticsassociation.org.
