One of the best things about TouchTomorrow, WPI’s annual festival dedicated to all things science, technology, and robots, is the sheer variety of activities and experiments available for guests to explore.
Check out just a sample of how everyone’s favorite festival comes together, down to every last penny, wiffle ball, and pair of scissors.
- No Geofilter Required: The bustling festival will be held in two locations, WPI’s main campus and Gateway Park.
- Best of Both Worlds: There will be no shortage of things to do at TouchTomorrow—70 external exhibitors and 52 WPI exhibitors are scheduled to share their love for all things STEM.
- Taste the Rainbow: They’re not just a Halloween favorite (or responsible for some of the more … interesting commercials on TV)—1,000 packs of Skittles will be part of an activity that’ll undoubtedly add up to a good time.
- Bead It: We’ll be using over 10,000 multicolored beads to illustrate the life cycles of stars, creating our very own planetarium on the Quad.
- Brain Freeze: If making your own stress ball or slime is on your TouchTomorrow to-do list, you’ll need to grab one of 2,000 Popsicle sticks—and if you’re lucky, you might just find a dad joke or two written on them.
- It’s a Double Rainbow: 4 glass prisms will help you go behind the colors, digging into the inner workings of a kaleidoscope before creating one of your own.
- Sweet Tooth: 10,000 mini-marshmallows will make for major fun at TouchTomorrow this year.
- Chez Gompei: No, none of the robots on campus are able to give manicures (yet!), but we’ll still have five bottles of clear nail polish for the big day (y’know, just in case).
- It’s a Food Group: 2,000 ketchup containers will be on hand at the festival, and that’s not even counting those at any of the eleven food options on campus.
- Stick It to ’em: How many stickers does it take to create a kaleidoscope? Well, we’re not sure, but we will have 5,000 of them to get you started.
- Keep It Together: You could use them as emergency hair elastics, but we think 3,000 rubber bands would be better served as supplies for making space landers.
Sure, the exhibits, labs, and robots are cool, but in classic WPI fashion, what really makes TouchTomorrow shine is the people, and there are a lot of them—from faculty opening their labs and students sparking a love of STEM in little ones, to volunteers helping locate those elusive parking spots. Over 400 people will be volunteering during the day, such as ...
- Summer School: 178 students across all degree levels are returning to campus to volunteer at everyone's favorite festival.
- Staff Outing: 101 faculty and staff members from all over campus will lend their expertise throughout the festival.
- Community Assistance: 96 volunteers from local areas and corporations will play a part in the day's success.
TouchTomorrow is many things—exciting, educational, immersive—but above all else, it's fun, and we can't spell F-U-N with you! Register for TouchTomorrow today, and we hope to see you this weekend!
