The following was originally published by My NBC5.

By Stephen Biddix

BEEKMANTOWN, N.Y. —

It was a special day for middle and elementary schoolers in Beekmantown. The elementary and middle school received a visit from the ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain.

Throughout the day at the STEM festival hosted by ECHO, students were able to learn real-world applications of science, technology, engineering and math.

“I think just using that throughout the day to increase their understanding of how things play out when they do activities. Does it make sense to them? Does the science of it make sense to them, what’s heavier what’s lighter? It’s just good to have a hands-on experience,” said Melissa Barcomb, Principle of Beekmantown Elementary school.

ECHO’s STEM-in-motion truck will visit over 20 schools per year to provide students with these valuable experiences.

“They feel like the work they are doing is important, that they’re having fun but that they are working like scientists and working like engineers,” said Kate Brocato, an ECHO employee.

The trip from ECHO was able to come together thanks to a grant from CFES Brilliant Pathways.

“A lot of this work, the outreach that we do is grant funded. There are lots of amazing donors that are really excited about the work that we do and the fact that we are getting out to these rural areas and places that might not have access to a museum like ECHO,” said Brocato.