Interview with a STEM Author: Orion Razat

Hi STEM Sparkers! Today it is my pleasure to introduce you all to STEM author Orion Razat. This author wrote a book titled 101 STEM Jokes and is only 10 years old! Additionally, Orion was recently on New York City’s WBLS radio show as a young filmmaker and was honored by Jif Peanut Butter with his own jar, for his great storytelling in their “Imagine, Shared Stories” campaign. He received an award from Kids Who Bank, for his creative vision as a young entrepreneur. He is a winner in the University of Washington’s 2020 Neuroscience for Kids Poetry contest. His journey in creating this collection of jokes was shared in a talk titled “From Class Clown to Class Author” at The 2019 Seattle Times Ignite Education Lab. His animations are currently projected at Museum of Museums in Seattle.

You know how much STEM Spark loves a good STEM pun, so I was very excited to interview Orion. So let's give a big, warm welcome to Orion!

I love a good STEM joke and pun, and so I really like your book 101 STEM Jokes.  Please tell me a little bit about 101 STEM Jokes and what inspired you to write it?

When I was in the 2nd grade, I was telling jokes during class and my teacher asked me to write the jokes down instead of telling them during class. She said that I’d be able to share them with the class one day as long as I wrote them down. I just wanted to make my friends laugh and be entertained. The math in my school wasn’t always the most fun and my friends seemed gloomy and sad, so I wanted to cheer them up. I started writing jokes down every day after school. I had over 101 jokes about the things I learned in school. A lot of the jokes were about science, math and technology which are the jokes my dad inspired me to write. We both really like robots. 

Why do you like STEM? What gets you excited about STEM?

I like to learn new things and explore, and STEM has most of my favorite subjects in it. But I like learning. Space exploration and the possibility of having trains in space one day would be really cool. 

What is one thing that has surprised you in a good way about STEM?

I just learned about polymers today and I never knew that polymers were little strands that look sort of like spaghetti under a microscope. And that they can bend permanently which is called plasticity. 

What piece of advice would you give kids struggling in STEM subjects?

Try to have fun-- don’t think of it as a boring task [and] try to find the fun in it. 

And finally, please share one of your favorite STEM jokes with STEM Spark.

What kind of pants does fancy DNA wear?

Designer Jeans. 

Haha, that joke is great! Thank Orion for being on STEM Spark! And I'm so excited to announce that we're giving away a copy of 101 STEM Jokes to one lucky reader! Follow the instructions on the Rafflecopter (or click the link here), and please US readers only!

Please follow Orion on his social media and of course happy STEM-ing:

https://www.youtube.com/c/rocketshipsquid instagram: @rocketshipsquid

And find 101 STEM jokes here!