What to know
- Dan Duong started the Toronto STEM Exploration Camp to provide free, hands-on science activities for kids from low-income families.
- The program focuses on fun experiments, like building potato batteries and volcanoes, to make STEM approachable and exciting.
- Run by university and high school volunteers, Toronto’s STEM Exploration Camp is funded by a Canada Service Corps micro-grant.
- It aims to break down financial barriers and inspire a lifelong interest in science and technology among underserved youth.
When a Toronto local couldn’t afford summer camp as a child, he spent his days at his grandmother’s house while his parents worked. Now, he’s making sure other kids don’t miss out, offering a free, hands-on STEM camp for families who might otherwise be left behind.
As someone who wasn’t able to attend summer camp, Dan Duong used his experiences as a foundation to create the Toronto STEM Exploration Camp, an accessible youth-led initiative. The camp was built on the belief that financial barriers should never stand in the way of a child’s curiosity or future in science and technology.
How did Duong build this initiative?
The Toronto local started giving back to the community after landing a job as a youth development coordinator at the Parkdale Intercultural Association. In this position, he is responsible for coordinating the tutoring program, with a major focus on math and science.
“Most of these kids struggle with STEM subjects,” he told Now Toronto. “They’re smart, [but] they struggle with them because they don’t really like them.”
“Not a lot of people like memorizing formulas and equations,” he said. “But the point of our camp is to tackle these kinds of programs.”
So, in order to address financial barriers and make STEM fun, the camp is completely free, and built around 9-5 working hours to alleviate parents’ responsibility.
“We’re very hands-on and equipment-based. So our goal is to show these kids that STEM is more than just equations and exams,” Duong shared.
Here are some hands-on experiences that kids get to participate in
The camp, which runs Aug. 10-14, sees youth take on various projects, including:
- Building a potato battery as their first hands-on experience.
- Creating a lava lamp.
- Making a prosthetic hand with cardboard.
- Partaking in a parachute-building contest, that sees a parachute attached to a water balloon testing if the design is effective enough that the balloon doesn’t break.
- Camp attendees will end the program by making a volcano.
“The whole point of [doing] so many experiments is to show these kids that STEM is much more than just equations,” Duong explained.
“There are so many wonderful real-life applications to STEM,” he continued, adding that he believes having hands-on experiences can lead to youth developing a passion for science and technology.
What’s Duong’s goal with this accessible STEM camp initiative?
Completely volunteer led, the camp’s team consists of university and high school students. Beyond giving them the opportunity to teach younger kids STEM-related topics, Duong also aims to provide mentorship to high school volunteers as well.
Through the five-day camp, located on York University’s Keele campus (though not affiliated with the university), Duong hopes to ignite a passion for STEM among young kids.
The camp is currently funded through the Canada Service Corps, a micro-grant program to support community-focused initiatives. While the founder is unsure whether this initiative can become an annual program, depending on funding, Duong hopes his story inspires readers to the initiative to create more after-school educational opportunities for kids whose families may face financial barriers.
“There needs to be much more support, especially education-wise, for kids who are from underprivileged communities or families,” he said.
