From Aug. 6-9, 2019, WISE (Women in Science and Engineering) Acadia will hold its third annual overnight summer science camp for girls entering Grades 7 and 8. The Full STEAM Ahead camp, organized by a Planning Team of WISE Acadia faculty and students, will welcome 30 campers to the Acadia University campus to experience a variety of speakers, workshops, Arts-based activities, and many other fun events.

WISE Acadia is dedicated to providing young girls with a variety of learning opportunities and mentoring initiatives in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) fields. As well as highlighting science, the camp focuses on how the integration of arts enhances learning in science education by encouraging students to think creativity and develop unique solutions to problems.

Campers who attend are given the opportunity to participate in numerous workshops to engage them in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. This year, the girls will step into 10 sessions on topics such as ‘DNA and Me: How Our Environment Shapes OUR DNA’; an engineering workshop on ‘Seas the Day’; and a session led by Kinesiology students on ‘Girls in Motion.’ One of the most popular activities is a mentoring session given by female undergraduate students at Acadia who are studying a broad spectrum of STEAM subjects. They’ll share their experiences and research interests with the campers, some of whom will be the scientists of the future.

Members of the Acadia alumni community feature prominently in WISE Acadia initiatives, with Barb Anderson (’77), currently the Director of the School of Nutrition and Dietetics, in one of the lead planning roles for Full STEAM Ahead. Jen Richard, an Acadia University Academic Librarian, and Dr. Randy Lynn Newman, Psychology, also have active roles, along with Rachel Clarke (’19). Rachel graduated in May 2019 with a BSc in Environmental Science and has started a master’s in biology at Acadia. She is already giving back to her alma mater with her active involvement in the Full STEAM Ahead Planning Team.

Acadia’s WISE participants are grateful to alumna Ruth Hennigar (’81), cabinet member of Campaign for Acadia, who is helping to fund the camp annually. Read more about Ruth here.”

Supporting girls to learn about science at a young age and being exposed to mentors who work in STEAM fields has been shown to make a difference in career choices. Stay tuned for updates about the camp on https://www.facebook.com/WISEacadia/ and through Twitter.