ESTEVAN — Young people who have been attending a Saskatchewan Science Centre summer camp at the Estevan Public Youth Centre (EPYC) had the chance to learn in a fun setting.
Twenty young people attended the program, offered from July 21-25. Three science centre educators – Kohl Thomson, MacKenzie Forseth and Alexa Salazar – took the young people through a variety of programs to keep their minds sharp.
"It has been fantastic," Thomson said in an interview with SaskToday. "We have had a nice open space for all of the kids to do all of the activities."
EPYC has been a great home base, he said, and they have enjoyed getting to know the young people from around Estevan. The kids have enjoyed the hands-on experience that keeps them busy and learning the science behind different projects.
"We make heat-changing slime, so it's where you make a simple slime and then you colour-code it so that it changes colour whenever the temperature changes in the room," said Thomson. "We're building simple machines, kind of like dominos, and then we're going to figure out how to make the simple machines work."
The science centre's staff helped kids build boats for a lesson on how buoyancy and gravity work. Thomson said the camp is scheduled to wrap up with a lesson on elephant toothpaste and a Jeopardy-style game in which the kids will earn points instead of money.
Similar programs are held elsewhere in the province, and Thomson said it's fun to take the artifacts and education materials from the science centre to rural communities.
Bonnie Chepil-Kvamme, who shares EPYC's executive director responsibilities with Maisy Daoust, said the science centre reached out to EPYC to offer the camp, and some of the young people were interested.
"These kids have been engaged and loving every minute. They're loving the fact that the science centre has come to Estevan and just makes it within reach for our kids," she said.
The kids are pleased to be able to learn while having fun during the summer months, said Chepil-Kvamme, who added the science centre's instructors have been great to deal with.
