By Marisa Silver | Manager, National Programs
Our STEAM Ahead! program is doing just that – steaming ahead in 2015 as we wrap up our pilot year. STEAM Ahead! is a new, national education program at Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada that couples interdisciplinary STEM education with creative design and real-world, problem-based learning.
Thank you for your support of our exciting new program! We know that in 2015 we need to think differently about what, when, where and how young people learn. It is important to supplement the education youth receive in school with a variety of additional enriching and high-quality learning experiences. We also know that young people-particularly those we consider to be most "at-risk" are failing to achieve the critical skills that will enable them to participate effectively and successfully in the world and in the workplace.
Our pilot program for STEAM Ahead! wrapped-up in June with some great successes. In our four pilot communities - Vancouver, Calgary, Brantford (ON), and Halifax – 350 youth, ages 6-18 participated.
“Running the program was a great opportunity to offer new unique programming to our members. Parents were excited to see their kids have opportunities they likely would not have had otherwise. One of the highlights was the computer program. Many of the kids really excelled in this area, and several mentioned that they had never thought that it was a career possibility.” - Staff, Boys and Girls Clubs of South Coast BC (Vancouver, BC)
The program was very popular with our Club members. Each week the participants were excited to see what they would be making next. The children who participated were exposed to new concepts and ideas that introduced them to engineering and computer programming. Many of them started to think about the idea that it was something they could do in the future as a career.
Our next step is the reporting and evaluation phase, where we learn what worked well and how we can improve the program. We look forward to sharing more information with you in the coming months and years as we continue to build-upon and grow STEAM Ahead! across the country.
On behalf of our members, THANK YOU!
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