Highlights of the AfterZone Summer STEM Camp

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.


DCDCampers in Down City Design practice real-world skills and learn power tool safety while building benches that they designed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sail Zone

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Urban Naturalists

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, provi20160718_1148081ded by Recycle-A-Bike and Sol Chariots, engage in hands-on learning to explore gears and simple machines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Save the bay regattaCamp programs are taught collaboratively by educators from community-based organizations, school teachers, and youth workers trained in positive youth development.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

STB Regatta 2

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fashion FuturesYoung designers in Fashion Futures, provided by Providence City Arts for Youth, learn how to make their own clothes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GardeningCampers 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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Horseshoe Crab

Young people take a moment to explore and play in the outdoors, encountering a horseshoe crab along the way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hip Hop ScienceHip 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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you to our AfterZone Summer STEM Camp funders: the Providence Public School District, the City of Providence, Noyce Foundation, Every Hour Counts, Textron, RIDE’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers, Bank of America, the Rhode Island Foundation, Rhode Island Housing, Southwest Airlines, the TriMix Foundation, and the Partnership Foundation.