Garden City Public Schools

Garden City Schools are commemorating America’s 250th anniversary through a variety of activities, including a districtwide interdisciplinary STEAM project in which students across grade levels designed and assembled “America 250 Automatons.”

Throughout the spring, students across the district collaborated to research, design, build and narrate a collection of hand-operated mechanical figures, each celebrating a defining moment in American history. Moving through the district like an assembly line, students at multiple grade levels contributed their own talents and expertise to help bring the final creations to life.

The project began at Garden City High School, where students in Mr. Mike Zagari’s American History Soundtrack class created Canva presentation visuals highlighting major moments in U.S. history, including the American Revolution, the Transcontinental Railroad, the first moon landing and influential figures such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Students also recorded original voiceover narrations to accompany videos of each automaton in motion.

At Garden City Middle School, STEAM students, led by Dr. Tia Albig and Ms. Lori Biondi, used the high school presentations as inspiration for their own original automaton designs. Through the design-thinking process, students developed original artwork and movement plans tied to events such as the Civil War, the Great Migration and the founding of Garden City, then passed their designs and building instructions to elementary students to bring their visions to life.

Elementary students transformed blank cardboard boxes into working automatons by selecting cams, measuring and drilling holes for dowels, assembling moving components and troubleshooting challenges when designs did not work as planned. The project required creativity, collaboration and problem-solving throughout the engineering process. Once completed, students worked alongside Mr. Mike Davola in Stewart’s green screen room to film the automatons in motion, bringing their creations fully to life.

The completed works were showcased at the district’s art exhibit at Garden City High School on May 19. Visitors were invited to turn the cranks, watch the moving scenes and listen to student-recorded narrations that brought landmark moments in American history to life.

“This project was really fun to do and was a great experience because it showed us the importance of the history of American and how far we have come,” said Stewart School student. “I felt proud to be a part of it.”

"We had so much fun building the automatons. It encouraged me to reflect on my engineering and think about what I could do differently to get my box to work,” said Stewart School student Madelyn Vigneaux. “It helped me learn to pay close attention to the small details that worked together to make the box work."

The project embodied the district’s Portrait of a Graduate framework, giving students opportunities to think critically, communicate across grade levels, collaborate with peers, create meaningful work and engage as active citizens honoring the nation’s history.

“The America 250 Automaton Project is proof of the incredible things that happen when students across multiple grade levels combine their skills, creativity and curiosity and bring together history, STEAM and the arts toward a shared goal,” said Ms. Victoria Buonpane, district coordinator for social studies and Ms. Christina Cardella, district coordinator for mathematics and STEAM. “The students showed up as citizens, honoring a shared history and creating something their whole community could experience and celebrate together.”