Arlington Science Focus School Virtual Family STEM Night 2021

Think you can’t host a family fun night while remote learning? Think again! Arlington Science Focus School, an elementary school in Arlington, Va., hosted its first-ever Virtual Family STEM Night Wednesday, Feb. 17.

The event went off without a hitch thanks to ASFS Investigation Station Lead, Stephanie Lin, the 2020 NOVA District PTA Educator of the Year, and a team of volunteers made up of ASFS teachers, parents, local high school students, and community partners.

Kindergarten through fifth-grade families were able to connect with one another and enjoy an evening of virtual STEM activities and live presentations, all from home. Students joined Microsoft Teams calls to listen to live presenters, watch demonstrations, and participate in a variety of science and engineering stations.

Thanks to the support of the ASFS PTA, families were able to pick up STEM Night supply kits with bags of simple materials needed for each of the experiments, and many of the activities could be completed with supplies found at home.

Some of the night’s highlights included hands-on activities, such as:

  • Building Index Card Towers
  • Creating Ocean Sculptures from recycled materials
  • Building a LED Copper Tape Flashlight
  • Making a Balloon-Powered Boat with a sponge, straw and balloon
  • Creating Underwater Fireworks with oil and food coloring
  • Experimenting with Paper Cup Constellations using a flashlight
  • Making music in the Chrome Music Lab

The event also featured presentations and demonstrations, including:

  • Astronomy presentations by a speaker from NASA
  • ASFS First Lego League Robotics Team demonstration
  • Reptile and amphibian presentation by a nature center representative
  • Space shuttle simulation with the ASFS student Tech Crew
  • STEM career talks by a Bioinformaticist, Computer Scientist, Environmental Engineer, Forester and Sustainability Analyst

Although the virtual experience was not the same as the annual science fair typically held at school, it was great to see so many families engaging and participating in this school-wide event and enjoying STEM in this virtual world.

Two of the most popular STEM activities from the night were National PTA STEM @ Home activities: STEM @ Home Experiment 2: Ballon Boat and STEM @ Home Experiment 5: Copper Tape Flashlights. For the Balloon Boat, many students filled up their sinks or bathtubs with water and enjoyed watching their boats travel. Siblings loved racing their boats against each other. With the Copper Tape Flashlight, students were amazed that the LED light could light up with simple household materials, and they loved how bright it was!

Interested in hosting your own virtual STEM night? Check out National PTA’s STEM @ Home page for more information.

ASFS Family STEM Night Photos

March2Success: FREE College Test Prep + More

High school students have a lot on their plates these days. Having to re-take an SAT or ACT test due to a low score shouldn’t be one of them. March2Success, a free online, interactive program created to enhance ACT, SAT and standardized test performance can help better prepare your students for important exams. From high school science, math and verbal skills to college readiness and planning tips, this online resource has the tools and information students need to succeed in the classroom and beyond.

The U.S. Army-sponsored March2Success program features curriculum designed by Peterson’s and the College Options Foundation. It offers a full prep course for the ACT and SAT to complement ACT and SAT full-length practice tests and provides cutting-edge assessment capabilities and education content in an easy-to-use, self-paced format that is available 24/7. In addition to practice tests, March2Success offers a variety of study materials such as flashcards, lessons and interactive video games to make the program user friendly for many learning styles.

For students interested in a career in healthcare, March2Success recently added full-length practice tests for the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT), the Dental Admissions Test (DAT) and several nursing tests, making March2Success an even more valuable resource for students.

Also new this year, March2Success now offers health and wellness resources to improve the health and fitness of students and their families. The Army’s Performance Triad focuses on creating and sustaining healthy behaviors of sleep, activity and nutrition; because peak mental performance, just like optimal physical performance, is important to the U.S. Army and our nation.

Parents and teachers can use March2Success to monitor students’ progress toward their goals, view frequency of site use, and have the option to manage their students as individuals or groups. Teachers can conveniently group students by the classes they teach, grade levels or student needs.

The U.S. Army is fully committed to strengthening the education resources for our Nation’s youth and this program is the first step.  Using March2Success requires no obligation to the U.S. Army. To start using March2Success, visit march2success.com or watch this video to learn more.


Jose A. “Tony” Castillo is Education Chief for U. S. Army Recruiting Command.  In his role he oversees several outreach initiatives and promotes Army education resources designed to help young people explore various career paths and succeed in their post-secondary future – as professionals and as citizens.