Activity Overload!

Um, so, remember how last week I said that we had reached 500 kids? And remember how I said that this number was poised to jump?

Well hang onto your socks, because they are about to be blown off: as of today, Let's Talk Science volunteers from the U of Guelph have reached OVER 900 KIDS!!!! That means we just beat last year's total!!!

How is that even possible? The huge jump in numbers is thanks to a number of incredibly dedicated volunteers! A total of 5 volunteers traveled to Orangeville over the past week to perform hands-on activities about matter, materials, energy transfer, the human body, and the characteristics of living things! Another team of volunteers visited kids at a community centre on a PD day to talk about animal adaptations, to challenge them with small engineering problems, and to wow them with some chemistry magic! Yet ANOTHER team of fantastic volunteers spent a full day working with kids in kindergarten through grade 2 talking about weather, materials, and animal adaptations! In addition to these large activities, several smaller-scale, but still amazing activities took place at schools here in Guelph - all in all, a pretty impressive week when you consider that Wednesday was a snow day, causing one activity to be postponed!

It's hard for me to express how proud I am of the fantastic things that the volunteers have achieved, not just over the past week, but in the time since I have become coordinator. I never thought that we would be able to work with so many kids in such a short time, and when I look ahead to all of the exciting things that we have planned before the end of the school year - an exhibit at College Royal, our first All Science Challenge, a visit to Northern Ontario, lending a hand at the CWSE-organized Girl Guides badge day, several more rural school visits, and, of course, plenty of outreach to schools here in Guelph - I am absolutely blown away by how much of an impact the volunteers from the U of G have had on the community within Guelph and beyond.

Thank you to the dedicated volunteers, the enthusiastic educator and community partners, and to all of our sponsors - you have made a real difference in the lives of youth in Guelph and the surrounding communities. Go pat yourselves on the back, buy yourselves a hot chocolate, and enjoy the rest of this snowy week :)