Thelma Parker Memorial Public Library Hosting Engineering Bash

Engineers Week is Monday through Saturday,  Feb. 19 through 24, and Thelma Parker Memorial Public Library of the Hawai‘i State Public Library System is celebrating with an Engineering Bash from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 24.

The free, family-friendly NASA@My Library event is being presented in collaboration with Canada-France-Hawai‘i Telescope, Pōhakuloa Training Area and the W.M. Keck Observatory.

Meet some of the island’s most talented engineers and discover the amazing world of engineering through indoor and outdoor hands-on experiments, demonstrations, and displays, including a hand-made firefighting pump. Attendees also can bring their questions to “Ask an Engineer.”

Event highlights include Alka Seltzer rocket making and rocket launching, a mobile, solar-powered trailer capable of powering multiple major appliances, hydrostatic bearing demonstrations, infrared camera activities, marshmallow catapult making and balloon drop experiments.

“Engineers Week is a great time to celebrate how engineers make a difference in our community, and in our world,” said Thelma Parker Memorial Public Library Branch Manager Pam Akao. “We are grateful to Canada-France-Hawai‘i Telescope, Pohakuloa Training Area, and W.M. Keck Observatory for partnering with us to spotlight the innovative contributions of engineers to our lives.”

The Thelma Parker Memorial Public Library also will offer other free Engineering Week activities, including special children and family screenings of engineering-themed movies on Wednesday, Feb. 21. Disney-Pixar’s cosmic comedy adventure Wall-E will be screened at 1:30 p.m., and the heartwarming, high-tech comedy Short Circuit will be shown at 5:30 p.m.

Mary Beth Laychak, outreach program manager at Canada-France-Hawai‘i-Telescope, will present an engineering-themed Preschool Story Time at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 22, and will lead an engineering-related activity.

NASA@My Library is an initiative to engage public audiences nationwide in informal and lifelong learning with the excitement of NASA exploration and discovery.

Thelma Parker Memorial Public Library is proud to be one of 75 public libraries (and the only library in the state of Hawai‘i) chosen to be part of NASA@ My Library, led by the National Center for Interactive Learning at the Space Science Institute in partnership with the American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office, the Pacific Science Center, Cornerstones of Science and the Education Development Center. This program is made possible through the support of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Science Mission Directorate as part of its STEM Activation Program.

For more information, call (808) 887-6067. The Thelma Parker Memorial Public Library, located at 67-1209 Māmalahoa Highway, is open Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and from 12:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Wednesdays.