This story is brought to you by the Science Play Initiative.
Mount Vernon’s own Science Play-Space Initiative (SPI) is celebrating 10 plus years of enabling play-based learning for kids in Knox County.
Concurrently, Kenyon College passed the five year mark since its establishment of Wright Center in downtown Mount Vernon. The partner organizations will offer something of a “reverse birthday gift” to the community in honor of their linked milestones. They’ll open the doors to families for free admission to SPI on April 22 and 23 between 9 am and 5 pm.
SPI is a nonprofit children’s museum and science center. It offers hands-on informal learning experiences through the lenses of science, technology, engineering, art, and math (also known as STEAM).
Executive Director, Stephanie Calondis Geiger, joined the team four years ago.
“I’ve seen the organization continue to sustain loyal participation and grow and reach out to new families in different ways,” said Geiger.
She said that SPI’s founding – by eager parents and community members with an interest in encouraging STEAM engagement – was a visionary experiment. Those leaders found there was broader demand and SPI was established as a community resource.
“The organization’s attendance and camp participation levels increased steadily since its inception, reaching a high of 18,598 in 2019 which was the last full year before closure from the pandemic,” Geiger said.
“I’m proud that SPI devised a creative and impactful ‘SPI to Go’ program that meant we could serve families throughout COVID. I’ve also enjoyed the opportunity in my time here so far to embrace an interdisciplinary approach, using stories and narrative to draw kids into science and vice versa,” said Geiger.
“Some people are more interested in how things work, the mechanics of it or the chemical makeup of a thing,” she said. “Others need to learn in the context of a story or as a means to an end. They want to discover how something is applicable to real world problems. They learn by drawing connections.”
“We work to set up opportunities for all types of thinkers and kids of different ages to get out of SPI what they need. It’s not school and we need to focus on fun. But we are also intentional in our approach to building familiarity with science ‘mindsets’ and introducing STEAM vocab and history.”
As it has for many years, SPI is offering various summer day camps for kids who in 2021-2022 will have completed kindergarten through fifth grade. These occur in partner venues around the community and are available for sign-up now.
To learn more about the upcoming open house event and associated raffle, visit https://www.spi-mountvernon.org/10yearraffle.html.
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