Senior Esther Nisberg pours a yeast solution into a mixture of dish soap and hydrogen peroxide as junior Kelsey Elton and a student visiting for GSS Day watch the elephant toothpaste erupt. 
Seniors Annica Pereira and Diya Patel prepare slime for the kids on GSS Day. PHOTOS BY SHRIYA ASHOK 
Sophomore Patrick Daneshmand helps a student create a paper airplane on GSS Day. Daneshmand will be the Executive Director of GSS starting next year. “Everyone [who sees this story] should come, join GSS,” Daneshmand said. 
Senior Diya Patel, the historian for GSS, kneads a custom slime for a student at GSS Day. GSS volunteers also make slime with students at the Laurel Civic Center throughout the year. 
Senior Ginger Kreithen paints a student’s face at her booth on GSS Day. 
Senior Anthony Dedovets volunteers at the penny boat station as a student tests how many pennies the foil boat will hold. 
Freshman Diya Panthulu helps a student build a tower out of spaghetti and marshmallows: a true feat of engineering.
As one enters the parking lot of the Laurel Civics Center, colorful tablecloths, metallic balloons, and overflowing experiments stand stark against the grass. Children are scattered between tables: at one, they look on in awe at an explosion of elephant toothpaste; under a tree, they wait in line eagerly to have their faces painted; at another, they talk with Pine View’s own volunteers about the science in action right before their eyes. It is April 25, Growing Stronger STEMs (GSS) Day, an annual celebration of STEM that aims to ignite curiosity and critical thinking in the minds of students.
Senior Annica Pereira started volunteering with GSS her freshman year, and she was the Executive Director of the program throughout this year.
“I tutor elementary and middle school kids, and I help them with math, science, [reading], whatever they need help in,” Pereira said. “After tutoring for maybe an hour, we do a science experiment. It could be art based or something more engineering based.”
In addition to the annual GSS Day, Pereira leads a team of volunteers from Pine View for two hours each Wednesday in helping Sarasota County children from third through eighth grade with academics. GSS’s weekly lessons—looked forward to by students and faculty at the Laurel Civics Center each week—culminate in science experiments that teach students about a range of STEM concepts. Past experiments have included assembling and launching paper rockets, building catapults, and making slime.
“I think it’s a very rewarding volunteering place because you give back to the community, and when you spend your time there, you’re seeing how much of a difference you’re making in these kids’ lives… they don’t have as many opportunities as other kids do, so helping them grow academically and just in general is an amazing thing to see,” Pereira said. “These kids are really sweet and they’re really into learning and they want to do well, so when they come up to you and they recognize you from all the previous weeks or all the previous years you’ve been there—it makes [you] feel really happy.”
Seniors Shivani Manivel and Sarina Sallapudi served as Unit Leaders in GSS this year, overseeing groups of kids during tutoring time as well as planning experiments to perform each Wednesday.
“I just love seeing the kids smile, their faces light up when they understand concepts,” Manivel said.
Manivel, a volunteer of two years, finds bonding with the kids at GSS to be the most rewarding part of her volunteering experience.
“There’s always a different kid every week that I work with,” Manivel said. “I think it’s a great way to connect with people you may not have ever met otherwise and make a long lasting impression on these kids.”
GSS Day, unlike the weekly tutoring and science experiment day, is an event available to the entire community, including kids that do not regularly attend the Laurel Civics Center. Volunteers set up stands with exhibits like elephant toothpaste, slime creation, marshmallow and spaghetti towers, and a penny boat challenge.
“[We] show them different STEM concepts through hands-on experiments and get them more interested in STEM because we noticed that a lot of people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds don’t have as much access to STEM,” Manivel said.
Sallapudi, who started volunteering with GSS at the encouragement of Pereira, has now volunteered there for four years. She encourages students to join the volunteer program, regardless of grade level.
“I think the most challenging part is learning how to deal with kids, because, you know, they’re not communicating like adults,” Sallapudi said. “That was definitely a big growing experience for me, I learned how to communicate clearly with people on whatever level of communication they are [at].”
As the seniors leading GSS graduate, a smaller group of volunteers is set to continue GSS in the 2026-2027 school year. Sophomore Patrick Daneshmand will be taking on the role of Executive Director after a year of service at GSS.
“I remember a kid was telling me a story about how before they came to GSS, they were getting Fs and Ds on all of their different assessments,” Daneshmand said. “They were talking about how after tutoring with me, [Sallapudi, and Manivel], they felt like they understood everything, and it made me really happy because it felt like I was being a part of this kid’s journey.”
Daneshmand aims to expand the STEM program to involve art in the future so as to nourish the students’ creative sides.
“I really want to see some more creativity and input from the kids themselves — to have them design their own experiences, have them do some of their own passion projects, and work on creating things, and seeing them build and grow themselves as well,” Daneshmand said.
As GSS blossoms into another year of exploration, Alicia Williams, the Director of the Youth Afterschool Academic program at the Laurel Civic Center, reflected on the role that GSS has played in the growth of her students.
“[GSS volunteers] come here and they help the students step outside of the box they never had an opportunity to be in,” Williams said. “They give the students the opportunity to just grow and let the kids here know all of the wonderful things that they can use in life, all the things that they can explore with all the experience and technology that [GSS has] here.”
Williams praises the community formed by the program and the dedicated team of volunteers behind it. Even as generations of volunteers and students come and go, GSS’s work at Laurel Civic Center has maintained a program kids look forward to, run by people who care.
“Just having that mentorship with the GSS students has been truly a blessing,” Williams said. “I can’t thank you guys enough. We would love to have more students to come out and volunteer with academics and show what they have learned and what they can bring to the table for kids that never, ever had an opportunity to know what STEM was about.”