On Thursday, April 11, Ms. Berbawy held a Makers Fair at the Fremont Downtown Event Center for her students and other high school, middle school, and elementary school engineering students.
This Engineering Expo has a rich history as Ms. Berbawy initially started it after the pandemic because the original Makers Fair that she and her students attended wasn’t being held. For several years, she held it in various places such as the Irvington cafeteria and gym, but wasn’t satisfied with the turnout of the event. This year, she partnered with the city to have it held at the Downtown Event Center for free and make the experience more accessible for students at various schools rather than it being Irvington-specific.
Ms. Berbawy held this event as a way for students to present their year-long projects to others. A student in her Principles of Engineering class, Nakul Vijay (11), shares, “The fair acted as a big haul for all of our projects.” Not only were her students invited, but also students from other high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools. Additionally, she also invited last year’s students since she had held this fair at a smaller scale in the cafeteria last year, so she felt that last year’s students should have an opportunity to present their projects to a larger audience.
Preparation for the event started long in advance as students have been working on their projects since October. The students’ projects, along with engineering notebooks, were designed and perfected throughout the year to be ready to present at the fair.
There were many impressive projects at the event. Vaibhav Jayakumar (11), a student from Ms. Berbawy’s last year class, had created an air hockey table and had the chance to present it this year. A student had also made a wheel to control a Mario Kart game, which many attendees were amazed by.
The fair experienced clear success as many notable figures such as Fremont Board of Education members, the superintendent, Mayor, and even a representative from the state senator’s office attended the fair. Ms. Berbawy was also presented with a certificate from the state senator’s office, congratulating her on her fair.
“People were telling me that my students were so nice and they knew what they were doing,” reflects Ms. Berbawy “at many science fairs, it’s clear that the students’ parents or friends did their projects, but attendees said my students spoke about their projects intelligently, clearly showing that they completed their projects with integrity and passion”.
