The Expo Fest is an annual highlight for the Skills21 and affiliated organizations. This event is the culminating experience for a year’s worth of hard work and innovation by high school students from across the state of Connecticut. Each year competing teams respond to a given challenge grounded in social responsibility. Past challenges have included “Balance”, “Responsible Design”, “Moving Forward, Giving Back”, and “Sustainability”. The 2016 theme is “Empathy by Design”. This year, competing teams set up interactive exhibition spaces at Toyota Presents Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford, Conn., to display and market their work to the public. Each project will be assessed by a panel of judges comprised of business professionals, higher-education faculty, and experts in the realm of science and technology.