Science Camp and Smiles

Students at Nueva Providencia Primary School use the microscopes brought by The Tango Foundation

The end of October and beginning of November is a transitional period for children in Guatemala. The rainy season is over and so is the school year. Most students transition from working in school all morning to working in the fields picking coffee with their families. We, and our friends at The Tango Foundation, wanted to prolong the students’ time in school-- by inviting them to a week of experiments and fun at science camp.

Students at La Cumbre Primary School conduct experiments

Students from Nueva Providencia Primary School and La Cumbre Primary School spent a week with us learning about polymers, gravity, sound and vibration, germs and microscopes! From the sounds of their laughter, it’s safe to say they were also having lots of fun!

The science camp education team, which traveled to the Western Highlands from Canada and Utah, consisted of women from a variety of career backgrounds, but all had the similar goal of providing a week of fun and learning to students from our beneficiary schools.

Students draw what makes them happy

Two of the team were trained social workers, who invited the students to take short breaks from exploring science principles to participate in sessions with them. The students talked about their feelings, mindfulness and kindness. They expressed thoughts about  what makes them happy, and they created artwork that portrayed them.

Lake Atitlan and the surrounding volcanoes were a popular art subject

In total,135 kids attended the week of activities. Some of our youngest participants were one-year-old, attending with their older siblings-- it’s never too early to learn! This week of smiles and exploration was memorable for all of us, for the young scientists, our guests from The Tango Foundation and for the Pueblo a Pueblo team. ​