Science Week Gets Children Ready to Head Back to School

Summer vacation comes to a close for Westlake children this week, as start classes on Thursday.

helped some parents with the transition from summer to school with Science Week, which featured several activities that mixed learning and fun.

Activities ranged from a visit by animals from Lake Erie Nature and Science Center, learning about robots, and chances to experiment from everything from electronics to building structures out of toothpicks and marshmallows.

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"It's our mission to educate," library director Andrew Mangels said. "We're hoping what (the children have) done this week will get them excited about science, and that they'll find it fun and interesting."

The activities are designed to work with Westlake schools' STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) program, Mangels said.

"When they go to school, they'll connect what they learn there with what they did here," he said.

Children definitely enjoyed the egg drop.

More than two dozen children created containers for fresh eggs, using everything from newspapers to straws to plastic bags.

Mangels climbed about 15 feet up a ladder to drop the egg containers. Children rushed to the plastic pool underneath to see if the eggs survived. Most of the time, a certain splattering sound was evidence enough that the egg didn't make it.

Four children -- 6-year-old Kelsey Townsend, 5 1/2-year-old Anthony Piazza, 4-year-old Natalie Clark and 8-year-old Scarlet Marks -- had their eggs get through the drop.

"I just put a lot of stuff around (the egg)," Townsend said.

Ruth Piazza, Anthony's mom, was glad he participated.

"It gets him geared up for not only science, but creativity," she said.

Mangels said he was glad children were engaged in the activities.

"In the world we live in, science and math are crucial to the economy, to jobs," Mangel said.