The sky's the limit
SCI-TECH SCENE | NASA, UIC offer middle-schoolers summer enrichment programs heavy on science
Ethel Oliver is proud to follow in her late father's footsteps by insisting that the children in her life get the best education they can.
"I'm an old-school girl. I make sure my grandchildren are in school every day, on time every day, and that they have a hot meal every morning before they leave," said Oliver, who is raising her four grandchildren in south suburban South Holland.
(John J. Kim/Sun-Times)
Oliver's father worked his way to independence from sharecropping and vowed that his children would live well by obtaining higher educations.
Oliver has enrolled her grandchildren in an enrichment program called "Saturday College," run by the Early Outreach Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The program runs Saturdays during the school year and offers academic summer camps.
Children throughout the Chicago area, both in the city and suburbs, have another free enrichment opportunity at UIC and other sites this summer.
It's the NASA Summer of Innovation project, run by Paragon TEC, a NASA contractor based in Cleveland.
The program offers a series of two- to four-week science enrichment camps aimed at getting middle school students interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The goal is to reach children in neighborhoods that otherwise have no access to these programs.
The classes, located in schools, churches and community centers on Chicago's South Side and south suburbs, involve topics such as rocketry, meteorology and aviation.
The Summer of Innovation is NASA's response to President Obama's "Educate to Innovate" campaign, and pays stipends up to $1,500 to teachers and wages of $12.50 an hour to college students who work as interns.
The program has enrolled 1,100 students but aims to double that by Aug. 27. Enrollments are open now (See information box for details).
Lolita Preston, who runs the XSTREME Learning Foundation in South Holland, is working as a consultant for Paragon TEC. She is busily recruiting partners to ensure that children in underserved neighborhoods sign up.
"I call it an XSTREME blastoff," Preston said. "This allows me to work with a partner [Paragon] that is developing curriculum in science, technology, engineering and math for communities at greatest need."
Preston and Chicago co-site coordinator Amy Hauenstein have partnered with UIC, Master's Academy at 6620 S. King Drive, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago, Harvey Community Center and School District 152, Park Forest-Chicago Heights School District 163, Riverdale Community Resource Center, and New Covenant Worship Center, New Faith Baptist and St. Ethelreda churches to host the classes.
Deborah C. Umrani, director of the UIC Urban Health Program/Early Outreach Program and an assistant professor of education, said parents and guardians are the key to ensuring that their children gain the type of enrichment such classes offer.
"We need to get families to understand how important it is for children to be successful in these areas if they want a better life," Umrani said. "And the college students who work as paid interns can become role models for the students, showing them that they can focus on broader horizons."