LEXINGTON, Ky. — A group of kindergarteners shared their engineering skills with older adults at a Lexington center.

Fayette County Public School’s Rise STEM for Girls went on a field trip to let the students test their projects. It was to help them learn more about exploration, force and motion. They got help from the residents of Lexington’s Mayfair Manor.

Kindergarten teacher Sydney Arnold and principal Cynthia Bruno helped the students and the residents throughout the day. Arnold said it was a complex subject for the classroom, but said her students were focused.

“We had a district person come out and teach them how to use some tools, and I got to see them use kid-friendly saws, kid-friendly screws and just watching them do that was amazing,” Arnold said.

Rise focuses on project-based learning and highlights science, technology, engineering, and more for girls to do so. It’s Lexington’s only all-girls magnet school that opened in 2020 for kindergarten through second graders. Now the school offers classes through fif th grade.

Arnold said the outing is one way they are building lasting community connections.

“Not only just playing the games, but just somebody to talk to, I’ve seen them interacting and learning with each other, and that’s been cool to see,” Arnold said. 

Proof that there is no age limit for learning something new and having fun while doing that.

“A lot of learning about communication and how to collaborate. And like I said, they just blew me away because I couldn’t see myself as a kindergartner doing this. So just seeing that they were “Able to collaborate and draw a plan together and then actually build it and see it come to life is just a cool thing, STEM Girls Rock,” Arnold added.