“Mrs. Georgina! What am I going to do for the science fair?” proclaimed one of the students one evening.
“I bought these kits for you last summer because I knew this time was coming so be careful to not lose any of the pieces” boomed the elegant British accent of the Center Director Georgina Hill. “Air + Water Power” science kits were broken open with the same enthusiasm as gifts opened on Christmas morning.
Fumbling through the booklet, students eagerly pointed at the projects they wanted to work on, carefully delegating who could do what and who had already taken a project so as to not copy each other: “I want to make a hovercraft; you can make a basketball machine”.
Although the kids often come to the center without textbooks to take home and a lack of zeal for the sciences, a new page turned over with the science fair projects as the kits brought science to life.
Pieces were quickly assembled with the occasional help of friends; no one wanted to leave the Life Center until they were done and could see what their project could do.
Scrambling over Step One: “Do you think the directions are talking about this piece?” until they reached the final steps. The kids poured over their work with the dedication of Newton, Sagan, and Tesla all jumbled into one.
Everyone then had their SHOWTIME! moment as the entire center of middle school and high school students watched and applauded their work for the day.
“Can I keep this in your office? I need no one to touch it until the Science Fair. This is really important.” were the parting words for the evening.
These are some of the most exciting events at the Life Center. Not the fancy science kits or the showing and telling of the cool projects created. The exciting events are seeing them really begin to love what they’re learning and be able to absorb the information internally along with those keepsake middle childhood moments they’ll be able to remember long after they’ll leave the center. Those “remember that time we made those science fair projects?” moments. Thank you for making this possible!
