TAYLOR — Seventh graders at Riverside Junior/Senior High School used their imaginations, as well as math and science skills, to build their own skyscrapers.
Working in groups, students designed and built the models as part of an eight-week school program run by the Salvadori Center, a New York City-based nonprofit organization that aims to bring science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics into schools. Using straws and colored connectors, they learned building stability, column and beam construction, structural grids, façades, scale and square footage and applied it to their designs, which they presented in class this week. Five classes totaling 115 seventh graders began the program in October and finished this week.
The groups presented the names of their skyscrapers, height of the models and how tall they would be in real life. Students gave their skyscrapers names for places that could be in the borough, like a hospital or sports center.
Alex Ross said his team’s skyscraper, named Little Timmy’s Sports Complex, was inspired by his and his teammates playing different sports.
“We all play sports and we like that … in our imagination we could walk here and if you want to play baseball there’s a batting cage so we could go play baseball, and then there’s our basketball court so we could play basketball too,” he said. “It’s really cool how we get to go to our skyscraper and play sports.”
America Sheridan and her teammates imagined theirs as a hospital in Taylor, which they said could be easily accessible.
A few of the model skyscrapers made by seventh graders at Riverside Junior/Senior High School sit on desks Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (Christine Lee/Staff Photo)
Riverside Junior/Senior High School seventh graders, from left, Alex Ross, John Klemish, Robert Klemish and Keundry O’Zuna Correa, describe their model skyscraper Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (Christine Lee/Staff Photo)
Model skyscrapers made by seventh graders at Riverside Junior/Senior High School sit on in the windsill of John Fox’s classroom Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (Christine Lee/Staff Photo)
Riverside Junior/Senior High School seventh graders, from left, Thomas Kuzmierczak, Drake Gierulski and Jared Cali talk about their model skyscraper to their classmates and teachers Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (Christine Lee/Staff Photo)
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A few of the model skyscrapers made by seventh graders at Riverside Junior/Senior High School sit on desks Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (Christine Lee/Staff Photo)
They said they liked working on it as a team. America said each member contributed to one part of the project and they worked together on it. Her teammate Kaylin Theriault said working on a team is easier than working individually.
“I like how we all contributed to making this,” said Jacob Leoszewski. “It was very fun making it.”
They also said they learned what goes into making a building, including how many stories it has to be to be considered a skyscraper.
“I never knew it would take that much work and that much effort,” Jacob said.
America and her teammates like building with Legos, and said making their skyscraper was similar to building with Legos.
“When we did this (project) I really liked it because it helps me connect them and have stronger abilities to break apart the Legos and put them together,” Kaylin said.
This year is the ninth the Salvadori Center has brought STEAM curriculum to the Riverside School District, but the first year students made skyscrapers as part of the program. The school received a $10,000 grant from the Scranton Area Community Foundation’s Community Needs Grant Fund for this year’s program.
John Fox, who teaches seventh grade world history, said the program gives students a chance to think critically and work together on problems.
“I think just watching them learn some of the new things and the way they work together to build the skyscrapers is really exciting,” he said.
Fox and Theresa Taylor, the center’s STEAM program manager for Northeast Pennsylvania, said the program exposes students to the real world. Taylor also hopes it deepens their interest in STEAM by participating in it in an interactive way.
“Some kids will say, ‘I didn’t know I was doing math or science in a different way,’ so they’re learning it in a more interested and different way, which is nice,” she said.