T-R PHOTO BY LANA BRADSTREAM Emerson employee David Jones directs children during the company’s annual We Love STEM Day at Marshalltown Public Library on Thursday. Two groups of 40 Bobcat University students learned how to build and use catapults.

Eighty Bobcat University students received a “crash” course in catapults on Thursday.

The annual We Love STEM Day, hosted by Emerson and held at the Marshalltown Public Library, gave the students lessons in physics and energy through the activity.

Emerson Marketing Manager Leah Stahlin said the theme of Thursday’s event was “Power Up,” inspired by a certain, well-known video game featuring a pair of plumber brothers. Kids left with take-home kits, consisting of materials to build their own catapults out of popsicle sticks.

“We’re hoping they learn the trajectory of an object,” Stahlin said. “Their goal is to hit the castle. They’re tightening the bolts and making sure everything is lined up. Once they throw something, [the catapult] might be so powerful, they have to move back. When they made catapults way back when, they had to move them back and forth, depending on how far it could throw.”

The children were divided into two groups, with 40 kids in each. After assembling the catapults, the children then arranged the newly-constructed catapults on the library lawn to fling selected objects at targets. The first target was four plastic containers stacked together, which were hit with water balloons.

“We figured the kids would be pretty excited about the water balloons,” Stahlin said, laughing.

The second target was a castle made out of wooden blocks, built by Emerson employees, which was hit with blocks.

The library event is also a good way to help the Emerson employees prepare for the in-person STEM day on Aug. 2 for Emerson children and grandchildren.

“We have a committee that works together to make the activities,” Stahlin said.

One of the goals of the STEM events is to show children they can do such things for a living.

“A lot of kids don’t realize how much STEM activities can encompass so many different jobs,” she said. “We’re hoping they can think, ‘Oh. I can see my future building something like this, or designing something like this.”

While catapults are certainly not used in the modern world — the last large scale catapults being used in World War I — the children can use the skills learned through building and operating.

“They will have the critical thinking like, ‘Where should we move the elastic so it launches better?’ ‘Do we need to move back or do we need to move forward?'” Stahlin said.

She said Emerson has partnered with the library since the COVID-19 pandemic to bring STEM activities to Marshalltown youth. Library Youth Services Manager Joa LaVille said they were excited when Emerson reached out about We Love STEM.

“It coincided with our already scheduled Lenihan visit, as each of our Bobcat U field trips include educational experiences and a chance to learn more about all the library has to offer,” she said. “The catapult activity was just right for this age group and the kids had so much fun.”

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Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.