WK 6: Science of Life Camp Middle School

Feed The Mass and Building Blocks 2 Success have teamed up to deliver our Science of Life program to students and their families through the Portland Public School Summer Enrichment, Engagement, and Safety Program. This collaboration brings a combination of science-based life skills education and practical real world STEM-based science education.

The program is designed to provide quality learning experiences that engage students in the collaborative process of learning new skills together, and exploring their individual interests and abilities. Workshops encourage organic natural learning experiences, introducing approachable opportunities for problem solving, critical reflection, and creative adaptability that will translate as skills into other areas of everyday life. Classes are specifically designed to support a variety of learning styles through a relaxed yet adventurous environment that involves all five senses and helps each participant find a helping role.

By making learning fun, active, and tangibly rewarding, we hope to engage and support kids who may be struggling in a standard school setting and empower them to take this confidence back into the classroom. Students will be guided to reflect on their increased level of confidence and self efficacy as they gain new knowledge and skills. Equipping students with the skills to contribute tangibly to their own and others’ wellbeing promotes positive identity formation, pride in their accomplishments, and empowerment as active, productive members of their community.

Feed The Mass brings a holistic, multi-disciplinary education initiative in support of long term solutions to food insecurity and wellness-based health inequity. Each discipline focuses on a discrete element of health competency, which builds on and integrates with the components of the other disciplines to create a spectrum of empowerment. Programming seeks to equip students and their families with a holistic set of ideas and behaviors by strengthening their knowledge and skills at each of several key functional root causes of suboptimal health. We’ve focused on some of the most common causes of health inequity, and will educate and support students in each practice. Our featured disciplines include: food education (nutrition, cooking, and urban agriculture), fitness education with an emphasis on low impact movement, financial literacy, and mental wellness with an emphasis on overcoming and healing from social inequity.

Building Blocks 2 Success brings a STEM focused robotics program that teaches a fundamental set of skills that promote lifelong science learning through hands-on STEM-based activities. Classes develop and support critical thinking, problem solving, and teambuilding skills through a series of fun and educational challenges that require students to apply math and science concepts to the exciting world of robot building and programming. We strive to enhance personal and academic success by using STEM as a motivational tool to advance educational and intellectual achievement. Our programming provides connections to local science leaders and bridges to post-secondary opportunities in the STEM field.