BOARDMAN — Approximately 500 students and their parents gathered at Glenwood Junior High School on Thursday for the sixth annual STEAM Night, where they watched “Sumo-bots” wrestle, saw demonstrations of student artwork and did yoga stretches, among other events.

STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, arts and math. The event showcased student projects from the past school year. These included tiny plastic heads molded by a 3D printer (a device that shapes objects by layering plastic); a zombie hunting computer game designed by student Chase Kranek, 14; and computer reconstructions of fighter planes designed by student Austin Burnell, 13, who described junior high as “quite fun.”

When asked what was best about STEAM night, Austin said, “You get to see what it is all about, and it’s not just for show, but for people to enjoy and learn for themselves, to actually get into this stuff.”

Austin hopes to one day take his training and become an aerospace engineer.

Edward Adams, supervisor of digital learning for the district, said he was very pleased by the evening’s showing.

“It’s a wonderful turnout and I think it is a testament to the hard work that our teachers put in day in and day out to get the kids excited about coming to school,” Adams said. “The whole point of our STEAM program is the application of some of the concepts that they are learning in some of their core subject areas. So, we want to eliminate the question of, ‘why am I ever going to need to learn to do this?’ For instance, math is essential to coding. It’s one of the foundational skills.”

Putting their knowledge to work, students entertained a bleacher-full of parents with their “Sumo-bot” battles. Sumo-bots were small robots designed by teams of students to battle it out in a sumo-style wrestling circle. The object of a Sumo bout — the national sport of Japan — is to push one’s opponent out of the circle. Made mostly of light plastic, Sumo-bots rammed and shoved each other until one of them was in danger of tipping off the sumo table. Onlookers cheered on the battles.

The event also represented one of the oldest technologies known to humanity. Linda Shevel, who owns Three Sheep Gallery and Workshop in Boardman, brought a hand-operated loom that weaves fabric. Students took turns sitting at the loom as Shevel showed them how to pass the shuttle (a small device used to weave yarn into the design of the cloth) between the threads on the loom.

“I want them to feel the success of being able to do something,” Shevel said of her demonstration, “to create something of their own hand that is just theirs.”

Jessica Nessle of Boardman looked on as her daughter, Annie, 10, worked Shevel’s loom. Later, Annie would take part in a “Dragon Puppets” display that she worked on in school.

“This is a great opportunity for the junior high kids to show what they’ve worked on during the years,” Jessica Nessle said, “and the things they’ve learned and what Boardman is able to offer these kids now.”

School District Superintendent Tim Saxton was on hand to observe.

“The best way to describe it is that back in the early days when we had a STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) night you might get to see some of the gizmos and electronics,” Saxton said, “but now we are seeing all sorts of variations. We’re seeing some different artists, we’re seeing electronics, 3D printing, and it’s so nice to get the arts into the event to make it the true ‘STEAM’ to plug into all the different passions of our kids,” he said, referring to the “A” in the acronym. “You see students’ eyes light up, that’s what’s important, and that’s the power of tonight.”

Jared Cardillo, director of instructional design in the school district, praised the work of teachers and organizers and explained the other purpose of STEAM.

“We’ve made a concerted effort, K through 12, to increase the opportunities of our kids,” he said, “and right now we are working really hard with working on our transition from Glenwood to the high school.”

This transition will include additional engineering classes at Boardman High School and possible internships with local business leaders, Cardillo said.

“Really trying to beef up what we are doing, trying to keep it aligned so that when kids leave here, they are prepared to take the next step at the high school and that trickles all the way down to kindergarten,” Cardillo explained.

Other displays included “maracas” (clay sculptures) of endangered species that students researched and sculpted; colorful chalk drawings by students of celestial bodies like stars and planets; ceramic tic-tac-toe boards made by students; and live crawdads taken from a creek that morning by Eco Adventures, an Ohio-based ecological education company.

The “Ugly Dolls” display included dolls sewn by students that reflected their own thoughts and emotions.

“This project students were asked to dive deep into who they were as a person,” the display description read. “With this project, students were to describe five things that make them unique, five affirmations about themselves,” the display read, “and demonstrate three different stitching techniques within their dolls” to express how they felt about themselves.

The purpose of the project was to empower students to express themselves and feel good about who they were.

Students from Youngstown State University were on hand to demonstrate painting and woodcutting. Lindsay DeLullo, a YSU fine arts major who will graduate in fall of 2025, demonstrated how a beautiful design could be chiseled from a block of wood.

“I hope that students learn that they can have a career in the arts,” she said, “and that they should be passionate about creativity.”

All of this effort showed the dedication Boardman has to its students, Adams said.

“We’re a community that wraps around our kids and wants to cheer them on from kindergarten all the way up to high school,” he said.