Engineers Week is February 16-22 and Thelma Parker Memorial Public and School Library of the Hawaii State Public Library System is celebrating with an Engineering Bash from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, February 22. The free, family-friendly NASA@My Library event is being presented in collaboration with Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, Hawaii Preparatory Academy, three-time international and current Hawaii Rubik’s Cube Speedcubing Champion Matty Inaba, North Hawaii STEM Alliance, Parker School, W.M. Keck Observatory, and Waimea Elementary/Waimea Middle Na Paniolo Robotics Team.
Meet some of the island’s most talented students and professional engineers and discover the amazing world of engineering through indoor and outdoor hands-on experiments, demonstrations, and displays.
Parker School will present an introduction to FIRST LEGO League and Junior FIRST LEGO League. Learn how to solve problems, create a prototype using LEGO bricks, and try programming a WeDo robot! Waimea Elementary and Waimea Middle Public Conversion Charter School students will share information about building and coding with LEGO, and offer a LEGO Mindstorms robotics demonstration and challenge, while Hawaii Preparatory Academy students will demonstrate paper engineering with popup books and paper mechanics.
Other event highlights include an air rocket design challenge, a robotic maze challenge, creating working gear cranks, using magnetism to move (and levitate) vehicles, a hydrostatic bearing demonstration, and more. Rubik’s Cube Speedcubing champion Matty Inaba, a seventh grader at Hawaii Preparatory Academy, also will be on hand to talk about speedcubing, explain the “science” behind solving the cube, and speedcube with children and families.
“Engineers Week is a great time to celebrate how engineers make a difference in our community, and in our world,” said Pam Akao, Thelma Parker Memorial Public and School Library branch manager. “We are grateful to all of our community partners for helping us spotlight the innovative contributions of engineers to our lives.”
The Thelma Parker Memorial Public and School Library also will offer other free Engineering Week activities, including special children and family screenings of engineering-themed movies on Wednesday, February 19. Robots, a “dazzling, fun-filled feast for the eyes” featuring the voices of Halle Berry, Mel Brooks, Ewan McGregor, and Robin Williams, will play at 1:30 p.m. San Andreas, Dwayne Johnson’s 2015 American disaster film, will screen at 5 p.m.
Ashley Spencer, youth services librarian, will present an engineering-themed Preschool Story Time at 10 a.m. on Thursday, February 21, and will lead an engineering obstacle course activity. The library also will feature a special maker-space area on Thursday, February 20, and Friday, February 21, with engineering activities provided by NASA.
NASA@My Library is an initiative to engage public audiences nationwide in informal and lifelong learning with the excitement of NASA exploration and discovery.
Thelma Parker Memorial Public and School Library is proud to be one of 75 public libraries (and the only library in the state of Hawaii) chosen to be part of NASA@ My Library, led by the National Center for Interactive Learning at the Space Science Institute in partnership with the American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office, the Pacific Science Center, Cornerstones of Science and the Education Development Center. This program is made possible through the support of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Science Mission Directorate as part of its STEM Activation Program.
For more information, call 887-6067. The Thelma Parker Memorial Public and School Library, located at 67-1209 Mamalahoa Highway, is open from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and from 12:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
