Charlotte Motor Speedway hosts STEAM event for 2,000 students and parents
Coraline Elizabeth Timberlake Ross introduces a wandering student to Bartholomew III, a patient care mannequin, and explains that he is 75 years-old and having severe respiratory issues.
She handles a bag valve mask and explains how to administer air to a patient who has been in a car crash or is going through cardiac arrest. She follows up the explanation and welcomes the student to grab the bag by asking, “You want to try ventilating?”
Coraline talks like a veteran instructor, standing at the head of Bartholomew III with a stethoscope around her neck. Her superpower here isn’t necessarily experience in the field, but the fact that she is the same age as many of the students coming by the Central Piedmont Community College (Central Piedmont) ambulance and demonstration.
She and her father, Andrew Ross, program director for emergency medical science at Central Piedmont, were just one of the many stops on the community college’s dedicated avenue at the Charlotte Motor Speedway’s STEAM Expo on Oct. 11.
Andrew says his daughter has been interested in the profession since kindergarten, when she walked across the graduation stage and said aloud that she wanted to be an EMT when she grew up.
“She takes some initiative to learn things on her own. She asks me a lot of questions. She loves to come to class with me, and she likes to interact with students,” her father remarks as he watches her demonstration.
“She’s doing more than I would be able to do with any of these kids, and she’s able to draw them in, answer questions, get down on their level. So (I’m) very lucky that she was able to be here today.”
— Andrew Ross, program director for emergency medical science at Central Piedmont
Once Coraline hands the bag over to the STEAM students, she continues advising.
“Make sure it’s not creased and upright,” the 12-year-old teacher says like a seasoned instructor, “(See) his chest is going up and down, meaning he is breathing.”
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After students poke and prod the very real looking patient care mannequin and have their questions answered by Coraline, they enter Central Piedmont’s ambulance. This hands-on experience is just one of the many offered at the day’s event, where well over 1,000 students are seeing STEAM in action.
Mechanics of a STEAM expo
This is the ninth STEAM Expo event for the Charlotte Motor Speedway, which boasted over 75 interactive stations taking the science and physics of motorsports and breaking them down into fun experiences for student.
Stops dedicated to understanding decibels, speed and acceleration, robotics, polymers, coding, and so much more were set up just outside the racetrack. Schools from 12 different counties took field trips to have students explore Science Street, Technology Way, Engineering Court, Arts Avenue, and Math Boulevard.
An educator from Isenberg Elementary School said this was her first time at the STEAM Expo, and it was just starting her journey into the experiences with her class.
“This is phenomenal,” she said as her students lined up for the speed and acceleration station.
Robotics teams from schools in the region were demonstrating their work, and young racers from the NASCAR youth series were around for questions.
Students participated in derby races, remote control races, and coding. Cars revved their engines, and students were able to see and touch different trucks.
Central Piedmont had 14 different departments on Technology Way and even showed the inside of a car, literally, at their Transportation Systems Technology tent.
Around 2,000 students and parents attended this event before the weekend’s races began. The first STEAM Expo was in 2018, and there is no sign of it slowing down.
Snaps of STEAM in action
