Professor Powers Science Symposium
In 2014, my sister lamented the lack of science education opportunities for the local homeschool community. Luckily for her, I was married to a science teacher and was hungry for a project. And thus, Professor Powers Scienc e Symposium was born. Our first year was just a week-long science summer camp, but come fall, Saturday workshops took over our schedule. My husband would tell me general themes for classes, and then I would plan the curriculum for each, based on the state standards. Though we started out hosting everything from our home, we outgrew that pretty quickly. We worked out of the Creamery Arts Center for a while and then moved to Farmers Park. When my husband started teaching at The Summit Preparatory School, we moved operations there until we closed up shop in 2019. In the five-year span, we brought hands-on creative science fun to hundreds of local kids, some of whom I still keep in contact with to this day.
Classes were advertised with simple monochromatic icons
Students dig some art during Archaeology Science class
Professor Powers facilitated lots of birthday parties! DNA extraction and making makeup.
Being a 501c3 allowed us to have all sorts of community partnerships, including a fundraising book fair at Barnes & Noble.
Campers received a fancy Certificate of Completion upon graduation from the course.
Did you know you can make a battery out of lemons? You can.
Professor Powers always had a strong showing at Cider Days and Artsfest. Coloring sheets, enormous bubbles, and simple experiments, oh my!
Tiny fingers learning about conductivity
Summer camps at Farmers Park under the big awning
Campers made robots in our Engineering Camps
Hovercrafts are vital for learning
Metric Olympics made worksheets fun
The zoo loaned us elephant poop.
Punch cards were sold to repeat customers. Fully-punched cards got discounts to camps, workshops, or merch.
The man. The myth. The legend. (in a shirt I designed)
We eventually caved and offered grown-up classes, too. Science of Love was offered as a fun Valentine's Day treat.
Detective Campers each got a personalized binder to keep track of evidence and learning.