The DiscoverE summer camp kicked off in Estevan on July 22. For the first time, this Edmonton-based camp made it to the Energy City to take children on an exciting scientific adventure.
The Estevan camp was developed for children going into Grades 2-7. Usually, DiscoverE tries to have more narrow age groups but travelling quite far this time they decided to try to include as many ages as they could.
The camp's theme this time is Scientific Discovery.
“It covers a wide range of different topics. (On the first day) we are doing space-related themes, but in the future, we will run different themes, so we get to touch base on different curriculum-related (topics), so the kids of different ages can relate back to it,” said Sally Lau, DiscoverE summer camp senior instructor.
The camp has a variety of activities. Balancing between outdoor fun, traditional learning and hands-on experiences DiscoveE inspires Estevan youth to dive into the world of STEM – science, technology, engineering and math.
“With every project, we have an activity. It’s mostly hands-on, where they do the activity. It’s either free-design, or something that’s guided, or it’s an activity where they apply something they learned through the presentation, so they can really absorb that material,” said Lau.
The demand for the camp was there, with 26 kids joining DiscoverE for a five-day run. And according to Lau, "the kids are very passionate about science.”
The camp keeps the children occupied the entire day, with them coming at 8 a.m. and staying at Affinity Place until 4 or 5 p.m.
Usually, these camps take a considerable amount of money out of family budgets, but that wasn’t the case in Estevan. This year Tenaris covered all the expenses making the camp free to participants.
DiscoverE is a non-profit organization originating from the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Engineering in Edmonton. Its outreach programs were originally focused on females, aiming to introduce them to the fields of engineering. Throughout the years of existence, they’ve changed and expanded to include all kids, promoting and teaching about STEM. Now they run mixed, as well as girls-only camps and workshops.
Their mission statement suggests that they work “to have children and youth recognize the value and importance of engineering, science and technology in today’s world and consider the pursuit of related fields a fun, interesting and rewarding option for their future.”
More information can be found on their social media platforms @DiscoverEUofA.
