In a country where many low-income families lack access to out-of-school learning experiences,
we’re fortunate in Providence to work with a mayor, superintendent, police department, and community-based organizations who value equity for our young people. Thanks to our partnerships with the Providence Public School District and the larger Providence community, 500 young people were able to experience our 4-week, full-day AfterZone Summer STEM Camp at no cost to their families. We’re highlighting a few moments that capture the spirit of AfterZone Summer STEM Camp: Where kids can gain exposure to the vast world they live in, make connections between the classroom and real-world STEM learning and, for the time being, just be kids.
Campers in Down City Design practice real-world skills and learn power tool safety while building benches that they designed.
Sail Zone, provided by the Community Boating Center, gives young people access to a community resource that is often only available to more affluent families.
Like all 500 youth in our camp, young people with the Audubon Society’s Urban Naturalists went on field trips twice a week throughout the state. Here, they went to Rhode Island Resource Recovery Center’s Central Landfill to learn about what happens to their “stuff” when they are done with it.
Youth in Pedal Power, provi
ded by Recycle-A-Bike and Sol Chariots, engage in hands-on learning to explore gears and simple machines.
Camp programs are taught collaboratively by educators from community-based organizations, school teachers, and youth workers trained in positive youth development.
Young people in Save the Bay’s Explore the Bay program participated in a regatta with boats they made using their understanding of water displacement and buoyancy.
Young designers in Fashion Futures, provided by Providence City Arts for Youth, learn how to make their own clothes.
Campers at Juanita Sanchez Educational Complex (JSEC) work with Hub Interns to maintain their campus garden, providing a link between our AfterZone middle school initiative and Hub high school initiative.
Young people take a moment to explore and play in the outdoors, encountering a horseshoe crab along the way.
Hip Hop Healthy, provided by Smart Test, Inc., formed a close community that welcomed one camper who moved to the U.S. just one week before camp began.