On Wednesday January 17 at the Board of Education meeting,  students from Graphic Design and Gaming and Coding held a STEAM presentation in the WTMS Cafeteria. The presentation highlighted the various equipment and programs used by the two courses.

“We wanted to show the collaboration between the STEAM classes and to highlight some of our newer tools the school has purchased, like Glowforge,”  explained Ms. Sinatra, The Gaming and Coding teacher.

Ms. Sinatra also went on to describe, “the Graphic Design students made the ‘ Landscapes’ and then we created the bases with the Glowforge Laser cutter and then my students programmed an LED to turn on with a button press and go off by a timer.”

Gaming and Coding student, Rosalyn Borton added, “ I like to use buttons in my projects because you get to choose what you control.”

“I like to include LED’s in my projects because they make them look more professional,” added 8th grade Gaming and Coding student, Alex Mitchell. 

As with most classes, the students also faced some obstacles along the way. They were able to collaborate, and really channel those problem solving skills in order to create a successful project. 

“We always have to make sure our wires are in the right places and even simple projects take a lot of wires, so it can get confusing,” explained Rosalyn and Alex. 

The students had quite a long process doing this project.

“Mrs. Glatz’s students designed the paper lanterns and at first just used battery operated tea lights, but we added our programs to their lanterns after, since we had already learned to turn an led on with a button,” added Sinatra.

Rosalyn added “It was great to collaborate with another specialty because in real life corporations teams work together to accomplish tasks.”

The Gaming and Coding and Graphic Design classes are just two of the amazing electives offered at WTMS.