Kim Louis told the kids gathered at United Presbyterian Church of New Kensington to pretend they were on a tropical island, somewhere green and warm.
Then imagine an impending snowstorm threatened to wreak havoc on that island.
Snowplows, Louis told the kids, would be key to clearing the snow. But the imagined tropical paradise doesn’t have any.
So the kids were tasked with creating their own miniature snowplows, powered by balloons and cobbled together with a hodge-podge of provided materials, like water bottles, straws, egg cartons and chunks of Styrofoam.
About 20 kids in grades three through eight teamed up with volunteer mentors to construct the snowplows during Saturday’s Elevate Lunch and Learn program, hosted by Sonward, a New Kensington-based youth enrichment program.
Louis, Sonward’s executive director, said the Elevate program aims to help kids learn about STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — while also honing communication skills and having a good time.
“We use challenging STEM projects to teach communications skills,” she explained, as the kids articulated ideas to one another, asked questions and talked through issues with each other.
The children were divided into small groups led by volunteer mentors. None of them — not even the mentors — knew what the day’s project would entail, so everyone had to figure out solutions together.
“Have you ever built a snowplow before?” Mentor Neil Walker as the kids gathered around his table.
He was met by a unanimous no.
“Me neither,” Walker said. “We’ve got to figure this out.”
At another table, Gemyla Johnson, 15, of New Kensington, quickly got to work building axles, gluing narrow wooden rods to plastic bottle caps.
“I’m not going to get a job building a snowplow,” she quipped.
Another girl in her group, Naula Matthews, 11, of New Kensington, pitched ideas for crafting the plow itself by cutting apart a cardboard cylinder to form a plow that could be attached to the front of a water bottle sitting atop the axles Johnson made.
“This is hard,” Matthews said, looking to another group for inspiration.
Several groups had similar ideas, with many using plastic bottles as the truck, plastic bottle caps as tires and pieces of cardboard and Styrofoam to create plows.
Once groups had their snowplows complete, Louis sent in the snow.
Cotton balls were scattered over the tables, covering tablecloths designed to look like little roads. The groups blew up balloons attached to their snowplows and tried to propel them through the cotton balls to clear the roads.
At the table where Johnson and Matthews worked with Brooke Rutherford, 13, and mentor Brenae Briggs, 25, both of New Kensington, the first attempt pushed aside about an inch of cotton ball snow.
“It got some in it,” Matthews said, pointing to a couple cotton balls wedged in the plow.
A second attempt at clearing the pretend snow from their make-believe tropical island — which they named Chill Gal Town — cleared away even more cotton balls.
“Oh my goodness, we did it,” Matthews exclaimed, bringing her hands to her face.
Louis said Saturday’s event is one of several youth engagement activities Sonward offers for local kids.
Louis, who has previously worked at Western Psychiatric Hospital and various churches and afterschool programs, said she realized when she moved into New Kensington that the community could benefit from more youth programming. She intended to be only a stay-at-home mom, but soon found herself launching Sonward, which has grown to include a variety of initiatives over the last 14 years.
Sonward offers art classes, youth employment programs and reading help. It has a community garden and hopes to soon splurge on a 3D printer.
“I realized there was a need for kids in the community I could fill,” Louis said.
The program was hit hard by the covid-19 pandemic, but now is bouncing back. It helps about 90 local kids per year, Louis said.
The Elevate Lunch and Learn initiative, Louis said, is about more than figuring out how to complete a task like building and propelling a miniature snowplow. Kids honed problem-solving techniques and communications skills while crafting their snowplows.
They also get a chance to socialize with peers and mentors over lunch, Louis said, and see that hard work pays off.
The kids were rewarded not just by seeing their plows achieve their aims, but also with small rewards at the end of the event.
“When you work hard for something, there’s some sort of reward,” Louis said. “If you get a job, your reward is your paycheck. The concept I’m trying to give them is you do work, you work hard, and it can be enjoyable — and then you get rewarded.”
Featured Local Businesses
At one table, Scarlet Johnson, 9, of New Kensington, attached a mini headlight to the snowplow her group was finishing.
Once the finishing touches were complete, she blew up the balloon she’d helped construct with tape and hot glue.
“It moves a little bit,” she said excitedly as the plow forced a few cotton balls out of its way.