February 2022

SMILE Students bundle up and get on the bus to 

head to more exciting STEM fieldtrips!

The Newport SMILE Clubs of Thompson Middle School and Rogers High School visited the Botanical Gardens at Roger Williams Park on Thursday, February 4th. They learned about symbiotic relationships with fungi and plants which helps plants communicate with each other, and that some plants absorb nutrients through dissolving insects. They enjoyed the flowers of the Calliandra tree that look like little pink pom-poms from a Dr. Suess book.

Adrian Gutierrez- “The information was really interesting!. I learned that some plant leaves are covered in wax so they can conserve water.

Woonsocket SMILE Clubs (Hamlet and Calcutt) engineer edible truss bridges in a tasty science experiment!

SMILE students constructed truss bridges out of gumdrops, saltine crackers and toothpicks using real bridge “plans.”