Students learn academic skills through STEM Sports programs in Glasgow, KY

Story via Will Perkins of Glasgow Daily Times on June 19, 2018

Dasia Driver, a rising seventh-grader at Glasgow Middle School, held one end of a measuring tape while rising eighth-grader Miranda Lee held the other Tuesday morning in the parking lot behind GMS.

They were measuring and recording the distance that Lee threw a foam football, and they would compare it with the distance she would later throw an American youth football.

“I’m thinking the foam (football) is going to be easier because the youth football is way heavier, and it will go down first,” Lee said, during the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) Sports Camp hosted by the GMS 21st Century Community Learning Center.

In another group, Wyatt Gouty, a rising seventh-grader at GMS, and Kelsey Barfield, a rising freshman at Glasgow High School, were measuring their throws.

Gouty said the foam football went farther for him, adding that he thinks he got this result because “it is lighter than the youth football.”

Barfield said she hypothesized that the youth football would travel farther because it’s heavier than the foam football, but she had only thrown the latter at that point.

Regardless of the distances, Barfield said she really enjoyed learning how to throw a football.

Instructor Stephanie Roemer, who is a seventh-grade math teacher at GMS, said this week’s camp blends athletics with the school’s science and math standards. She said while the students had been brushing up on academic skills, they were also learning volleyball, soccer and football techniques.

“Tomorrow we’re working on basketball shoe technology,” Roemer said, adding that they would be examining the last 100 years of basketball shoes and “how they progressively got better or worse in some cases.”

Roemer said they would discuss how some older shoes could last basketball players an entire year, whereas now “they’re not good after like one NBA game.”

“So it’s interesting to see the difference,” she said.

Roemer, who also coaches soccer and volleyball, said her favorite part about this camp is getting to see the students try sports they might not otherwise play.

“We’re going to do an actual soccer game where they’re measuring how many calories they burn, and their heart rates,” she said, adding that they would cool down by watching some of the World Cup.

Driver said she really enjoyed learning volleyball techniques.

“We learned the basics of it and I found that fun,” she said. “I want to do volleyball next year. I want to try out, so it was helpful learning here.”

Lee said her favorite part about this week’s camp was “getting to be outside and in the sun” while playing sports.

“It’s been really fun,” she said. “I’m enjoying it.”