T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY — Yaneth Montenegro, left, and Alice Shao, right, of Emerson work with third graders Sara Ortega Luna, second from left, and Maria Juan Miguel, second from right, during a LegoEd session at Rogers Elementary School on Thursday afternoon.

Most adults have fond memories of assembling Lego sets as youngsters — whether they followed the instructions or not — but at Rogers Elementary School, third graders are learning real-life lessons through the LegoEd program with a little help from employees at Emerson who volunteer their time.

“We’re so thankful for our Emerson volunteers because we wouldn’t be able to do it without them,” Marshalltown Community School District (MCSD) Executive Director of Education Services Shauna Smith. “Our teachers, after school, are mostly tutoring, so just to have an extra opportunity for kids in the world of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) is amazing.”

Sara Duncan of Emerson explained that LegoEd is part of the Emerson Women’s Impact Network (WIN) K-12 outreach efforts, and they have partnered with local schools previously but hadn’t been able to make it work the last few years until the LegoEd after school program with third grade students presented itself.

“We’ve gone to all six of the (MCSD) elementary schools. We have 17 volunteers from Emerson, so it’s just getting the kids interested in STEM and give them an opportunity to learn from some STEM activities,” she said.

Third grader Rubi Gonzalez said her favorite creation thus far is a spinning garden, while Travis Kobwayl has been working on an electric car.

“This helps them learn some of the basic coding through the Legos. As the kids get older, there are different Lego programs, like with robotics. From a career standpoint, some of it’s problem solving also with the coding and then the engineering part of it to make it work,” Duncan said. “Some of the kids are making things that get topsy turvy, and they have to figure out how to make them stand up. They’re trying to make it spin and not fall over, so it’s just kind of basic engineering principles and construction principles.”

The introductory coding elements, she added, include making their creations spin, activating light patterns and sensors, and once the students get their feet under them, they can advance and move on to more challenging lessons.

“It’s the highlight of our day. We get to leave work early, come hang out and play Legos for an hour,” Duncan said. “It’s been five weeks, two sessions a week, (and) the kids have gotten a lot out of it. We enjoy being out in the community and getting to, a little bit promote Emerson, but just hang out with the kids. It’s a lot of fun.”

And maybe, a few of the students will one day decide to become employees of the mainstay Marshalltown company.

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Contact Robert Maharry

at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

maharry@timesrepublican.com.