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Coding and Candy Canes: A Holiday STEM Extravaganza

27 January 2026

From Evelyn Ashe

The holiday season kicked off with a bang at Camden County Public Library’s monthly Storytime STEM event on Dec. 17, 2025 in Kingsland, Georgia. For the first time since the early fall, Strategic Weapons Facility, Atlantic (SWFLANT) welcomed 62 enthusiastic attendees, including 10 Department of the Navy (DON) mentors for an evening of festive, hands-on learning.
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The event, coordinated by SWFLANT’s STEM library mentor and engineering intern, Evelyn Ashe, began with a lively reading of "If I Were a Wizard," by Paul Hamilton. Emilee Long, the librarian at Camden County Public Library, captivated the audience with the story’s engaging plot, which creatively weaved in fundamental coding concepts and set the stage for the day's activities.

“We are so glad to have the SWFLANT STEM team back,” Long said. “Parents and children have been asking for STEM Story Time in person and on the social media page, so we’re thrilled to have it back.”

Following story time, guest speaker and Information Technology (IT) Specialist Craig McCrea explained how binary – the fundamental language of computers using 0 and 1 – is used in programming and how the Navy relies on programming and computer science to protect data. By relating concepts from the book to popular video games like Minecraft, something the students understood well, McCrea was able to bring the world of coding to life. McCrea also shed light on the exciting and vital careers within computer science, cybersecurity, coding, and IT at SWFLANT and throughout DoN, sparking curiosity and answering several inquisitive questions from the students.

“That was a lot of fun, and the questions really made me pivot from my prepared speech,” McCrea stated. “I would love to come back and support future events.”

After the question-and-answer forum, students had the chance to interact with a hands-on STEM activity, coding their names in binary to create candy cane ornaments. Four stations were set up with red and white beads, pipe cleaners, and a binary code cheat sheet. At each station, SWFLANT employees served as STEM mentors and provided guidance and support to the students, ensuring everyone could bring their coded creations to life. SWFLANT’s STEM team also welcomed "TEAM SANDMAN," a local robotics team who served as additional STEM mentors at the event.

“TEAM SANDMAN” is a local, homeschooled FIRST Tech Challenge robotics team composed of students ranging from 7th to 12th grade. SWFLANT STEM mentors provide valuable insight and technical knowledge to support the team’s robot design and development, and the team frequently volunteers at the library to mentor younger students during Storybook STEM events. Being students themselves, they also partake in event activities.

As students assembled their candy cane ornament, they proudly showed off their binary candy canes to SWFLANT employees. Jeff Chafin, a SWFLANT technical writer, played as STEM Santa and rewarded students with real candy canes for their hard work. Chafin also used this opportunity to explain how coding is used at the North Pole, celebrating the learning experience in a magical and engaging way for the students. He also pointed out how SWFLANT’s local robotics team uses programming to bring their own creations to life.

Chafin said he was impressed with the event's success.

"This is a fantastic way to make learning about STEM so engaging and memorable for students,” he said. “It’s wonderful to see how the connection was made between a fun activity like binary candy canes and real-world applications. Evelyn and Emilee have done a fantastic job in setting this up and a big thank you for Team Sandman for showing up and engaging the younger children as true mentors."

To wrap up the event, Ashe gathered the students to discuss their learning experiences; ask about their favorite parts of the day; and the naval careers they discovered that involve coding and computer science. The event was a resounding success, filled with fun, learning, and holiday cheer for all who attended.

SWFLANT is one of two sites responsible for the Navy’s strategic assets. Its mission is to deliver safe, secure and effective sea-based strategic deterrence to Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines. The command also supports the reconfigured guided missile submarines, which carry Tomahawk cruise missiles.
 

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