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Discovery Green Celebrates #LIKEAGIRL with STEAM Center

ROGERS, Ark (KFSM)– Girl power was celebrated at the LPGA Walmart Northwest Arkansas Championship at the Pinnacle Country Club through some educational fu...

ROGERS, Ark (KFSM)-- Girl power was celebrated at the LPGA Walmart Northwest Arkansas Championship at the Pinnacle Country Club through some educational fun.

For the second year in a row, Walmart partnered with Always Live and P&G to organize a STEAM hands-on learning center for kids called Discovery Green. Children from Washington and Benton counties were bussed in, and any other children at the course were also welcomed.

"We are bringing in lots of kids, different age groups, to get them excited to see what STEM and what STEAM can be - so both. It's really just a movement," said Becca Shaddox, Walmart's Director of STEM Strategy for Technology.

STEAM is adding an art function to science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM).

"Everything is more fun, and you get to make stuff instead of doing work and having your brain confused," said 10-year-old Zoey Dawson.

At Discovery Green, the kids were able to make their own bath bombs, engineer snap circuits, see holographic images, and learn about video game development and animation and play with Pepper the Robot.

Dawson said despite everything being rooted in education, she was just having a good time.

The program's primary goal is to encourage girls to enter STEM or STEAM fields. According to the National Science Foundation, 72 percent of  U.S. STEM jobs are comprised of men.

"It's really teaching and getting more girls into computer science and interested and showing them they can do that. They can do some amazing things because we have different viewpoints," said Shaddox.

Dawson thinks that 'viewpoint' might be the better one.

"Well not to be rude to the boys or anything but it feels like girls are a lot smarter," said Dawson.

Discovery Green is open to all children - not just girls, but is geared to encourage more girls to get into STEM or STEAM careers.

It will be open from 10 AM to 3PM until Sunday and is located at Pinnacle, just off the 16th green. It is open to all children and is free of charge.

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