After a few hours of hands-on learning some high school students are seriously considering a career in science or health sciences.
And that’s exactly what the organizers of TRU’s Aug. 4-7 science and health sciences camp for Aboriginal youth in grades 8 to 10 want to hear. Most participants are from around the region with a few as far away as Hazelton and Fort St. James.
Brianna Kelly is one of the 20 campers. She is from Chase and is experiencing the camp for the first time. She doesn’t mind giving up part of her summer holiday to go to school. “I’m enjoying this a lot. I’m experiencing the different aspects of science and the different directions you can go in,” she says. “I’ve wanted to be a nurse and am now considering science. I might like to be a researcher.”
The camp has been going for a few years and receives funding from TRU’s science and nursing departments as well as other organizations and government agencies. The overarching goal is to soft-sell science and health sciences to a population that’s typically under-represented in both.
Campers do a range of academic and non-academic activities. The school part has activities related to microbiology, ethnobotany, chemistry, biology, math and nursing. Non-academic activities include a scavenger hunt, rock climbing, yoga and swimming at the Tournament Capital Centre and at Chase Beach. The week also serves to familiarize campers with campus and its immediate surroundings.
It’s Wednesday and science faculty member Susan Purdy has campers rolling up the sleeves on their white lab coats to answer three questions about invertebrates: can they see, can they see light, can they see colour?
Groups of five are assigned to one of four stations, with each station having multiples of the same creature. One station has earthworms, another snails, crabs, and finally starfish. Using the same pieces of equipment—a lamp, black cardboard and transparent coloured plastic in sheets of 8.5 inches x 11 inches in red, blue and green—campers set out on their roads of discovery. One or more campers act as recorder and answers the questions on the sheet provided. There’s also the task of working the timer clock.
The starfish are about the same size as a small pancake and Cambria Thomas of Fort St. James is among the researchers at that station. The tests are completed, the sheet filled in and the observations discussed. She arrives at a personal discovery.
“I like this because I get to experience what they see and what they like.”
Similarly, Amelia Billy from Chase says, “This is interesting because I never thought starfish could sense light and dark or even colour.”
Thursday is a day in Chase and learning directly from an elder, the role traditional plants continue to play in Aboriginal culture, medicine and religious practices. Some information is new, some they think they’ve heard before, and other bits so good they will be shared in the coming days.
Friday among other things is a an opportunity for campers to provide feedback and reflect on the experiences. And through that reflection, consider whether science or health sciences is a path for them.
