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Students from Duchesne Elementary School visited St. Louis Community College (STLCC) campus at Florissant Valley on March 6 to tour the campus and explore possible career pathways. 

“Our aim is to create an early college experience for the students by exposing them to the various offerings we have at Florissant Valley,” said Carla Jordan, career and technical education transition specialist at STLCC.

Approximately 110 students were divided into groups and rotated through hands-on activities on campus.

The students toured KCFV-FM, the student radio station, where they learned about audio production and the difference between analog and digital signals. They had an opportunity to do voice-tracking and actually broadcast.

They participated in biotech activities, using micropipettes to transfer colored water to 96 well plates that revealed a hidden message, and extracted DNA from strawberries and made a necklace or bracelet out of their tube of DNA.

Students built a balsa wood model aircraft and learned how the position of a plane’s control surface determines height, speed and direction. They also had an opportunity to visit a jet cockpit and learn about how parts of the airplane are built.

During a nanotechnology activity, they looked at the tiny building blocks of nature and the properties that they bring to the world.

In a math and perspective drawing session, they were taught how to see proportions and follow lines, as well as how to represent a three-dimensional scene on a flat, two-dimensional surface. They learned how objects relate to each other and to a horizon line.

“They left with an example drawing they created themselves from their new knowledge of how to see and reason the space around them,” said Ann Marie Mosher, professor in mathematics.

The students also learned the American Sign Language alphabet, signs for greetings and animals, as well as how to interact with peers who are deaf.