Last Saturday, the Robotics team put together a trunk-or-treat in the school parking lot. As smiling kids walked through with their families and collected candy, the Robotics team educated them on the ideas of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

“What happens at the event is kids and family come by and go through a loop that we have and grab candy,” team captain Mitul Patel said. “In our Red Alert trailer, we had our robots stationed in there so they could take a look at them as they walked by. ”

Members of Robotics each decorated a car trunk with different Halloween themes to pass out candy to attendees. Such themes included “Stranger Things,” “Jurassic Park” and “Harry Potter.”

“Trunk-or-treat is a great event for exposing younger kids to STEM and a lot of what these fields can do,” Patel said. “By having the robotics team host these events, they can see the kind of work we do. A lot of parents would show a lot of curiosity and if they knew that their kids were interested in something like that then they would sometimes sign them up.”

In addition, the Robotics team helps connect the community through this event by bringing in local businesses to educate the community.

“We had two police cars and a fire truck come by, and a bunch of people in the community that have their own businesses will bring things too,” Patel said. “It is also a way for us to reach out into the community and help spread the idea of STEM.”

The event ended up spreading STEM awareness to over 1,000 people attending the event.