STEM camp seeds love of learning for Indigenous kids – University of Calgary

Power to Choose Aboriginal Youth summer camp helps change minds

Not all that big on science at first, Tia Johnstone was all smiles by the time a co-ordinator with the Power to Choose Aboriginal Youth Summer STEM Camp complimented her work on a model satellite she made for their robotics engineering design challenge.

“I was okay with science, but I didn’t love it. Now, I’m liking it. We did robotics, water testing and programming. It was extremely fun,” says Johnstone. “There’re so many new things to learn about and jobs you could do.”

Johnstone’s mom Lori first met the Let’s Talk Science folks at an Aboriginal Awareness Week Calgary event, she loved the cool activities they brought to the tipi at the Calgary Stampede grounds. That’s what compelled Lori to sign her daughter up for Power to Choose, a free science camp open to high school students within Treaty 7 territory.