BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Emerson Ohashi is curious about the way things work.
"If I see something, I’m like, 'Cool, why does it do that?'" Ohashi told WBZ NewsRadio Saturday.
An eighth grader at Boston Latin School, Ohashi was one of many students taking part in Boston Public Schools' STEM Fair at Roxbury Community College's Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center on Tremont Street.
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The annual fair celebrates science, technology, engineering, and math education, giving students a chance to showcase their STEM skills with experiments; in Emerson's case, it was pollinating peppers.
"I really like botany," Emerson said. "Some other fields interest me. I think just finding stuff out, seeing new stuff, I think that’s really cool."
Northeastern University co-sponsored the event. According to Jennifer Love, a professor at Northeastern's College of Engineering and one of the judges, the fair is not only about recognizing achievement, but encouraging curiosity and creativity.
"They come with a thirst for that learning, and you can definitely see that that is perpetuated and that is what embraces these kids and what motivates these kids," Love said.
"I’ve seen some great things come out of these kids," said Reed Brockman of the Boston Society of Civil Engineers. "They’re not limited by all the things we think of. We don’t make them think of budgets and approvals, we let them go wild on their imagination and they make some incredible things. I’m very, very proud of all the kids."
WBZ's Mike Macklin reports.
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