By Olivia Prather

SiSTEM is a STEM-based afterschool program at RCDS which takes place every week during the winter season Tuesdays and Thursdays. RCDS highschoolers, passionate about helping their community, teach lessons to elementary school students to bolster their STEM education. RCDS partners with elementary public schools in the Port Chester district. The program began after Winter Break and ended on Tuesday, February 10. There were two 5th-grade classes, consisting of two leaders, five volunteers, and fifteen students per room, with an additional two floater volunteers who traveled between both rooms. This year, SiSTEM covered a wide variety of topics, such as geology, the solar system, energy, engineering, chemistry, and sustainability.
On a typical day in SiSTEM, leaders and volunteers arrived at 3:15 after school. Before the students arrived, they gathered materials for the lesson and previewed the slides they would teach, which had been prepared beforehand. As the students began to arrive at 3:30, volunteers handed out snacks as they asked students about their day. Once in the classrooms, lessons usually started with a fun activity or icebreaker; for example,volunteer George Brown ‘29 added that in his room, “We would usually do a Wordle or something interactive in the beginning.” The teachers then presented a slideshow to the students, and led hands-on activities to support students who learn more proactively. These involved chemical reactions, like elephant toothpaste experiments or building actively by using light kits in their engineering units. Students  left around 5:15 PM

Each leader of SiSTEM had their own specific responsibilities; for instance, Alex Gurion ‘26 was the curriculum leader and was responsible for developing the curriculum, ordering all materials they needed, and planning the lessons. Darren Wong ‘26 was the activities coordinator and oversaw the attendance and all logistical aspects of the program. Kaitlyn Wong ‘26, Maleah Dunkley ‘27, Michael Goneos ‘27, and Emily Williams ‘26 were the head teachers for their respective classrooms. Dunkley, third-year SiSTEM volunteer and first-time leader, added, “When making lessons, we try to make sure that the kids are entertained, but sometimes the topics can get so in-depth. So, we try to make sure it’s fun for them overall, and that they at least get something out of it.” Each day, they try to ensure that they have a new lesson based on a different aspect of science, to attempt to cover all the “big science buckets.”

“Working with kids is so difficult,” says Dunkley. At the beginning of the year, students are more shy with the teachers, but as they grew comfortable, the difficulty level increased. Despite this, SiSTEM is a good way to get used to working with students, and it’s a valuable experience to know what it’s like to be a teacher. Furthermore, SiSTEM is enjoyable for the volunteers as well as the students, as Brown notes: “Working with the kids is lots of fun.” Dunkley also concurs, saying, “I joined SiSTEM to have fun with the kids and because it’s a rewarding and purposeful program. For what RCDS is, we are a privileged school, and we have the resources to do these things. They come from schools that don’t have the capacity that we do, and I’m grateful that I can share it with them.” In addition, the program serves as a resource for parents who may need a place to send their students while they’re still working, and SiSTEM provides educational support on top of that. Brown adds, “It is a great way to get to know people from a different community and to teach them things they aren’t fortunate enough to be able to learn in-depth at their school.” 

Ultimately, SiSTEM embodies RCDS’s values by giving back to the community, using our resources to help those around us, and creating a fun, exciting environment for both students and volunteers alike.