WINNIPEG, MB – A PromoScience grant of $42,000 over 3 years means the popular University of Winnipeg Eco-Kids on Campus program is expanding and will be able to provide services to an additional 100 students this year. Eco-kids on Campus provides inner-city school children with fun and educational science and environmental activities on campus.
Strathcona School has pioneered Eco-Kids on Campus and in 2010 a second inner city school, Wellington School, will participate. Children come to UWinnipeg’s campus once a week, for 10 weeks, to do various types of science activities. Science professors led by Associate Dean of Science Randy Kobes, Faculty of Education students and instructors from UWinnipeg’s Collegiate are involved in running the activities. The grant will be used for transportation, nutrition for the kids, supplies and equipment for the activities. (One grade 6 class produced a short video about their experience.)
UWinnipeg grad Kevin Chief and educator Gerri Zacharias of UWinnipeg’s Innovative Learning Center coordinate Eco-Kids on Campus. “This kind of financial support will go a long way to helping children become familiar with a university campus, as well as giving them the opportunity to experience science in a fun and exciting way,” said Zacharias.
The PromoScience grant comes from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). NSERC aims to make Canada a country of discoverers and innovators for the benefit of all Canadians. NSERC researchers are on the vanguard of science, building on Canada’s long tradition of scientific excellence.
In addition to Eco-Kids on Campus, The University of Winnipeg runs the largest inner-city summer camp in Winnipeg. Since it started in 2007, approximately 1,800 children have attended UWinnipeg’s Eco-Kids Summer Camp under the leadership of Kevin Chief. Another 100 Grade 10 high school students have participated and received credit in an Enviro Tech course created by UWinnipeg and devoted to environmental science. Several high schools have now adopted the Enviro Tech course. UWinnipeg has offered more than 400 students from disadvantaged backgrounds “fast-track” Opportunity Fund bursaries to ensure they can attend university.
Community Learning Backgrounder
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Diane Poulin, Communications Officer, The University of Winnipeg
P: 204.988.7135, E: d.poulin@uwinnipeg.ca
