Summer science camps for Siksika youth

By Lorenzo Gavilan Vargas Times Reporter

The Siksika Board of Education (SBE) STEAM Works program is organizing summer day camps for Siksika youth in Grades 7-12. The camps take place the last week of July and the first two weeks of August. 

The camp will focus on science and technology, with field trips to the TELUS Spark Science Center and the Rothney Astrophysical Observatory, bussing and lunch included. 

“The kids are coming out to do experiential hands-on STEAM learning, and the a is for artistry,” said SBE STEAM Coordinator Rob Cardinal. “We’re going to have an artist there showing them how to make 3D models and animate them. We’re going to do that with VR software. They’ve got a chance to do model rockets, we’re going to do some chemistry. We’re going to do water testing as part of Alberta Tomorrow, the water and ecology program.”

The camps are a good way of turning an interest in these fields into a full-blown passion for kids.

“We’re trying to get these kids interested in science, technology, engineering, artistry and mathematics, and a lot of them are, but they just don’t ever really get to use it or see it or actually do it themselves. And that’s really when it clicks for kids, when they actually get to use something and see how it works, it can really spark a deep interest,” said Cardinal.

Another reason that these camps are essential is the fact that there just are not as many younger people going into the technical trades, according to Cardinal.

“A lot of our baby boomer generation is retiring,” he said. “They’re taking a lot of their experience and knowledge with them, a lot of them going into helping the exciting new wave of youth to get to take up those positions because we simply don’t have enough right now.”

Indigenous people especially are underrepresented in these fields.

“We’re making up a huge and growing cohort of 15 to 24-year-old people in Canada. And we’re also the least represented in these trades, in STEM practitioners,” said Cardinal.

To help increase Indigenous participation in STEM, the SBE STEAM Works program plans to bring more accessible experiential learning to Siksika.

“So there will be maker spaces with 3D printing and virtual reality and an AV studio, all kinds of robotics and stuff like that at each of the schools at Siksika so that this can just be part of their everyday learning all the time,” said Cardinal.

Registration for the camps is available either on the phone, the Facebook page, or on the website of the SBE. More information is available on the SBE’s Facebook page