By Michele Robertson
For the past several years, the first week of June has hosted the Inspired by Science summer camp on the NMSU-C campus. Due to Covid-19 this year’s in-person camp was canceled, but that didn’t stop founder and president of the recently designated non-profit, Deena Antiporda from finding a way to provide science to our area's youth.
“We were very disappointed to have to cancel camp this year, thanks to our amazing sponsors we are able to provide science camp for our kids at home. Even though we are apart physically, we can still do science together, virtually,” said Antiporda.
Registration for Inspired by Science camp 2020 will open up on Monday, June 8th and close on Sunday June 21st. There is no cost to register for Inspired by Science virtual camp 2020. STEM kits will be available to the first 200 registered campers, registrations beyond the 200 will need to acquire their own supplies, which will use mostly household items that should be easy to find. Full details on pick up of kits will be given at the time of registration. Each day, videos will be released for that day’s activity on the new website, www.inspiredbyscience.org
Prizes will be given out during the week and the closing ceremony will consist of a video of demos and drawings for the grand prizes, this will be held on June 26th. Campers who register get one entry into the prize drawings. Daily participation is encouraged and will be done by commenting and posting videos or pictures. The more campers interact, the more chances they get for the drawings.
This year’s main sponsors are Devon Energy and Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP). Additional sponsors include Burba, Cole, & Overstreet, Arch and Nelda Slate, and Dolores Reynolds.
Community & Governmental Affairs Coordinator for NWP, Khushroo Ghadiali shared the following “ Inspired by Science serves an important role by introducing these young minds to the wonderful world of STEM education and does it in a way that makes it interesting yet fun. As an employer with several STEM-based career options, we commend the work that Mike and Deena Antiporda have done over the past few years. We consider it an absolute pleasure to be able to enable them to offer the camp in a different format this year.”
Antiporda has been working diligently the past few weeks with Devon Energy and NWP to formulate a plan to bring science exploration to the kids in our community. Regular camp volunteers are ready to assemble the STEM kits when items arrive. More information will be available on the website and on the Inspired by Science Facebook page.
“Science is very important at Devon Energy and we are committed to providing hands-on learning opportunities for the students of Carlsbad, NM. We are proud to continue working alongside Mike and Deena Antiporda as they shift gears during the pandemic to share their love of science with the students through the at-home camp” relayed Shannon Johnson, Senior Community Relations Specialist at Devon Energy.