Boarding a plane and taking flight east this summer, Riley Buchheit, Cannon Falls’ 9th grade science teacher and mentor of the Robotics team, along with 13 other people composed of both students and chaperones will be flying east to Boston, Massachusetts. Buchheit and his companions will be gone from June 5th to June 8th in which they will tour the Massachusetts Institution of Technology’s (MIT) campus and labs in addition to participating in multiple interactive STEM workshops with a range of topics from robotics to natural science. The trip will not be completely STEM oriented and the group will be taking a duck boat tour of Boston, eating at Quincy Market, and going to a Boda Borg, an activity similar to an escape room.

The trip originated when Buchheit was contacted by Educational First— a company designed to help educators plan trips– last year with the opportunity to organize a STEM trip in either New York or Boston. After the zoom session with two undergraduates of MIT with the Cannon Falls Robotics team,  Buchheit chose to go to Boston and see some of the facilities mentioned in the talk. With a destination set, Buchheit started recruiting students for the trip east.

The goal in mind when Buchheit planned the trip was to show the students the possibilities of a future in a STEM field. “My hope for this trip is that it helps the participants experience really amazing workshops and I hope it exposes them to the great wide world. I also hope that something that really interests them along the way and that leaves a lasting impression on their life,” commented Buchheit.

Buchheit’s excitement is not alone; the students going on the trip are eager for the summer to begin as well. One student, Thomas Coyle, who is going on the trip, has noted his excitement about the visit to Boston. “I was interested in this trip because Boston has so much history, also to get to learn more about STEM from well-respected minds,” stated Coyle. Coyle’s previous experience in STEM include participation in IBM LEGO Robotics Competition and the High School Robotics team, yet he hopes the trip will give insight on “the real life uses of STEM.”

In anticipation for the trip, the students with the aid of Buchheit hosted a LEGO Robotics Summer Camp Fundraiser for one week this past summer for younger students. At the camp, younger students were given challenges to complete each day; examples of these challenges include following tape placed on the ground, driving over golf balls, and launching ping pong balls. The participants of the trip would help the campers to bring their ideas to fruition and introduce the younger generation to STEM. The goal of the camp was to generate money for their trip and spread STEM ideas to the community.