North Lenoir High School biomedical students Cristina Mendoza-Ventura and Adriana Gaona, with teacher Dr. Thomas Schwartz, rear, staff their exhibit on the human skeleton during Thursday’s 2019 E2 Summit in Greenville.

Whether the topic was code robots or the human skeleton, LCPS students had the answers during the 2019 E2 (Educators to Employers) Summit and the NC East Alliance State of the Region event last week.

Students from North Lenoir High School and La Grange Elementary School presented STEM projects and activities at the multi-county gathering in Greenville on Thursday. Districts from across the Southeast and Northeast regions were invited to send student teams to demonstrate programs that promote STEM, STEM careers or workforce preparation.

La Grange Elementary School's Digital Learning Specialist Alicia Davis and teacher Georgia Tingen brought students from the La Grange Coding Club and the La Grange STEAM Club. 

La Grange Elementary students Layla Wentzell, Marissa Doyle, Ruby Johnson, Raylin Grant, Alyssa Smith and Fawn Creech demonstrated how the Coding Club explores the world of coding through the use of Ozobots. Coding Club students work with provided symbols to code robots using lines of code or ozoblockly, a drag and drop program. In the Coding Club, students work collaboratively to find solutions to problems and to create stories and mazes, among a variety of projects.

The students also presented the activities of the STEAM Club. The STEAM Club is an after-school program that focuses on solving STEM-related problems using the engineering design process. Students involved in this club also study and create projects for the NC Science Olympiad events.

North Lenoir High School Project Lead the Way biomedical students, under the direction of teacher Dr. Thomas Schwartz, demonstrated how the intensive study of body systems can provide a great deal of information to the scientist.

North Lenoir High School students Adriana Gaona and Cristina Mendoza-Ventura demonstrated how labeling, examining and measuring bones and skeletal features helps the observer learn the height, gender and age of the bones. Students Blythe Jackson and Melanie Carasquillo demonstrated how to explore the brain and nervous system through labeling, modeling and dissection.

Stephen Turnipseed, executive vice president and chief strategy officer of Pitsco Education, was keynote speaker for the luncheon. The former president of LEGO Education North America and past chairman of The Partnership for 21st Century Learning, Turnipseed spoke on “Workforce 2030: Building the Pipeline.”

The E2 Summit was attended by elected officials and representatives of school districts and business and industry from across the region.