Uplift Jamaican Schoolchildren Through Science

Given the realities of the pandemic, STEPS went virtual this year! We maintained our hands-on approach for our 150+ students! Our theme this year, “Do good for yourself, do good for the world”, had an overarching focus on climate change. Original videos and interactive games were created to engage students with concepts such as how agriculture, nutrition and technology can be utilized to improve the climate crisis by improving time on the climate clock.

Students learnt about modern inventions aimed at improving farming practices and how limiting the use of pesticides can decrease the run-off into neighbourhood water sources. They were also eager to learn how to be more eco-friendly and the importance of managing their food waste. Overall, they were excited to learn about the links between technology and agriculture processes that could either benefit or harm the environment.

Our participants found the sessions informative and interesting. They loved how interactive the sessions were, with over 90% giving a score of 8 out of 10 for how much fun they had! The students also left comments describing their STEPS experience, such as “This is a dream come true” and “I used to think STEM was boring, but now I think it is extremely fun”. One repeat participant said “This is even better than the first time I came to a STEPS workshop”, which perfectly reflects SOSA’s commitment to continuously improve the value of the program. Many students are in anticipation of their next invitation.

SOSA is definitely reaching its goal of creating ambassadors for STEM, as one student was sure to let us know “I am now considering to be a scientist and help the world”. It is exciting to see the impact of our program given the pandemic and we are happy to announce that we have more virtual programming coming up very soon!

Thank you for enabling us to continue to reach these students! Look out for more to come!!