By MyKala Guerrero
Cove Leader-Press
Saturday, the Copperas Cove H-E-B held a Kids Day event where kids could explore inside the store and out.
In the parking lot, children of the community were allowed to climb into a fire truck and meet with different firefighters and Emergency Medical Service personnel with the local department.
Additionally, Copperas Cove Police Department supported the event by making Kiddo cards for kids in attendance. The purpose is to help parents and law enforcement reunite lost or separated children with their families quickly and effectively, saving critical time in the event of an emergency where the information can be sent out to other units and agencies to join the search for the lost or missing child. More than 100 Kiddo Cards were assigned during the event.
H-E-B partners also manned stations throughout the store that promoted science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning for area children.
Kids could watch a chemical reaction, get seeds to grow at home, test their dexterity using fish hooks, see a robot in person, make slime, paint, and dig toys out of oobleck, which is a fluid that is both a solid and a liquid, and more.
Kids not only got the chance to feed their growing minds, but they also received multiple free toys, activities, and snacks via the event as well.
Administrative Assistant of the store, Jennifer Cotter, stated that the store gets to have these fun events twice a year and it’s up to the store to decide how they will celebrate.
“Our Connections Manager, Kayla, she’s really into STEM. So she (asked), ‘How fun would it be to have a back to school type theme and gear it around STEM?’ And so we have a lot of things going on in the store.
“We have kids decorate brookies (brownies and cookies), and then you get to pollinate seeds, and then there is some robotics… and then we get to make slime. Just anything the kids can get their hands on, and just to teach them different things: that’s what STEM is all about.
“We have a great relationship with Copperas Cove Independent School District (CCISD) and brought the STEM program into the store with our CCISD students in mind. It makes our hearts happy.”
Kayla Kornelis, the mastermind behind this event, credits her own love of STEM and her experience with her son for the inspiration of the theme.
“I know what I like and I know what I’m good at. I know what I can get kids to enjoy as well because I have a 12-year-old son myself, and STEM is always fun. And education, that’s what I like… STEM, science, technology, engineering, and math is always needed; an always- needed field. So getting kids interested in those fields and those subjects, young and early-on is always a great way to start,” she said.
H-E-B hosts Kids Day every year as well as multiple other events throughout the year usually surrounding holidays or other big events within the H-E-B franchise.
Kornelis said an upcoming event in September that will be posted to the store’s social media pages as well as the annual Home for the Holidays event that will take place later this year. As always, the community is invited to take part.
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