A new, annual overnight camp at St. Francis Xavier University saw 31 African Nova Scotia and Mi'kmaw youth in Grades 7-11 stay three nights on campus and spend three days exploring science, technology, engineering, and math.
Offered at no cost to participants, the X-STEM Overnight Camp is run through StFX's Faculty of Education and is organized by the same team that runs the outreach program, Connecting Math to Our Lives and Communities (CMTOLC). Similarly, the new camp allows students the opportunity to explore the value of STEM in their daily lives and focuses on exploring Mi'kmaq and African Nova Scotian ways of knowing within the STEM field by partnering with Elders and Knowledge Keepers as well as StFX faculty and staff.
"It was really great to see the youth working with faculty and Elders in a way that brings Indigenous and community knowledges together with science and math. It's so great to support students to see how math is such an important part of all these science and health programs. They were able to see practical applications of mathematics and mathematical thinking in all the tasks," says StFX education faculty and organizer Dr. Lisa Lunney Borden.
Dr. Lunney Borden said the camp came about when Dr. Angie Kolen, chair of the StFX Science faculty, approached her indicating they wanted to do a STEM camp. "I brought X-Project in on this as well, and using funds from my research chair, the John Jerome Paul Chair, my math outreach program called Connecting Math to Our Lives and Communities, and X-Project, we were able to start planning. We were grateful for additional support from the Canadian Math Society, the StFX President's Office, and the Department of Math and Statistics. This helped to make this camp a reality."
Research assistants for the John Jerome Paul Chair and summer staff for CMTOLC did most of the planning, she said. "It was quite a significant amount of work to get everything in order but it was well worth it for such a successful camp. We were grateful for help from community partners in spreading the word and helping out by sending additional chaperones."
Students from Paqtnkek First Nation, Guysborough, We'koqma'q First Nation, Eskasoni First Nation, and Dartmouth arrived on campus May 29th for the start of a three day program that had them engage in activity sessions with the departments of Human Kinetics, Human Nutrition, Engineering, Computer Science, Biology, and Nursing, as well as with X-Chem, X-Oceans and the Flux Lab. Dr. Lunney Borden, Dean of Science Dr. Joe Apaloo, Academic Vice-President & Provost Dr. Amanda Cockshutt and guest speaker DeRico Symonds all spoke at the welcome event, which included a student panel of Black and Mi'kmaw students in STEM careers who interacted with the students.
Interested students applied to attend, and StFX arranged a bus to provide transportation for most participants, and covered travel costs for the few not on the bus route.
While at StFX, they toured campus, spoke with recruiters, made drums and medicine pouches, and visited the Mi'kmaw Kina'matnewey (MK) prom (a Grade 12 prom for students at MK schools across the province that are part of the Mi'kmaw education collective), which happened to be hosted on campus the camp's final night.
A highlight of the three-day event included the Friday afternoon programming at Crystal Cliffs, an off-campus outdoor property owned by StFX, where the youth participated in land and sea-based learning alongside both StFX professors and Elders and Knowledge-Keepers.
Community guests included Carol Ann Jeddore, who taught Mi'kmaw words for plants and nature; Terry Denny, who shared traditional woodworking knowledge; and Joe and Judy Googoo, who imparted land-based knowledge including identifying and discussing various medicines alongside StFX nursing educator Emily Peter-Paul.
The team at X-Oceans organized a scavenger hunt, and the StFX Biology Department hosted an activity to learn about bugs and slugs and arranged for their summer students to suit up and swim out in scuba gear to catch ocean life such as lobster and crabs for everyone to view.
The camp wrapped up with a final banquet.
POWERFUL FOR MANY REASONS
"This camp was powerful for many reasons," says engineering professor Dr. Brittany MacDonald-MacAulay, who had students in her activity consider building and testing of prosthetic legs by identifying a client and working to create a design for them, understanding their needs, beliefs and budget so as to remove the focus on a design that may be cool,' and place emphasis on the user and how everyone's needs differ.
"The camp, I hope, increased the confidence of the students participating and made them excited about entering STEM-related fields, but also, as an activity host, it helped me learn more about the participants' culture," she says.
"This openness to share meant a lot to me and I will be able to carry this knowledge with me in my practice. I look forward to participating in the future."
StFX biology professor Dr. Russell Wyeth noted he had a fantastic time out in nature at Crystal Cliffs, exploring both Mi'kmaq and scientific names and knowledge about biodiversity. "It was really fun seeing the students so engaged, particularly with the shrimp, crabs and other animals we caught, and released, from the saltwater lagoon."
Reg Cozzi and Kathleen Glasgow, who lead the team with X-Oceans, say the university students involved in this organization spoke of how grateful they were to be part of the program and of their joy seeing the kids enjoying the hands-on experiences. "I think the X-STEM camp was such a cool program to be involved with and I hope the campers got a lot out of it," one student said.
