Help Cindy raise money

In my leadership role for Scientists in School, I’m constantly hearing and seeing the impact of our amazing visiting scientists and their investigative workshops. We hear a lot from parents and teachers, but the most meaningful impact indicators come from alumni of our programs, who well past their high school years often excitedly recount specific experiences they had when Scientists in School visited their classroom during their elementary school years. I am proud to be walking in the Scotiabank Charity Challenge to help bring workshops to thousands of classrooms sparking young scientists to confidently say, “I can pursue science.” I’m particularly walking for the children and youth attending schools that serve vulnerable communities, where our Adopt-a-School program is crucial to helping close a gap that widened when the pandemic hit their communities the hardest. 

In a typical school year, we engage 700,000 young scientists. That takes a lot of fundraising dollars. This is a year like no other in our 31-year history. Our need for funding is greater than ever before as we pivot our programming. But our charity’s funding has been hard hit by the pandemic. Together we can climb this mountain. Thank you for helping us brighten this school year … and their future. 

p.s. You may wonder, how is Scientists in School continuing this year when our visiting scientists can’t be together with children in their socially distanced classrooms? The answer is that while this year looks and feels different, we’ve added a new program stream - virtual workshops with individually packaged kits of materials sent ahead to use during their investigations. Already we are hearing about the difference reimagining and rebuilding our workshops is making, as shown in this note from a grade 8 teacher after her students took part virtually in Genetic Diversity and You! last week: “My students absolutely loved your workshop.  They said it is the best they have had so far with Scientist in School.  They were so engaged. It was wonderful. Thank you for staying past the end time with us 🙂” This makes me confident that we can make an even bigger difference for children whose learning enrichment and joyful experiences were held hostage during the pandemic.