26 THE QUEENS COURIER • AUGUST 23, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Photos: Jenna Bagcal/THE COURIER
Homeless kids enjoy a ‘Win’-ning camp day at NYSCI
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com
@jenna_bagcal
A museum in Corona gave 50 children
from New York City homeless shelters a
hands-on STEM experience.
On Monday, Aug. 20, kids from three
Win-operated shelters in Manhattan and
Queens experienced a day of STEM (science,
technology, engineering and mathematics)
at the New York Hall of Science
at 47-01 111th St. Win, formerly known
as “Women in Need,” collaborated with
AT&T for the fi eld trip. Th e company’s
support of the fi eld trip is part of their
“Summer of STEM” which aims to introduce
youth in the fi ve boroughs to essential
tech skills.
Th e children, many of whom also
attend New York City public schools, had
the opportunity to engage in activities like
creating their own machines at the design
lab, watching educational demonstrations
and building structures in the facility’s
Imagination Playground, comprised of
big, soft building blocks.
“Some of them have not had a chance to
really be exposed to building, be exposed
to imagination, and so this is a very freeing
time for them,” said Tamara Ortiz, the
director of Children’s Services for Win,
which operates Camp Win.
Th e camp is an immersive, summer
long program that emphasizes education
in STEM and the arts for the nearly
700 children currently living in Win
Shelters. Th e organization’s president and
CEO is Christine Quinn, who helps to
operate 11 family shelters across New
York City.
Ortiz joined the organization 22 years
ago as a college student who had “completely
diff erent endeavors.” She said that
what attracted her to stay at Win was the
aspect of giving back to the community
and also the gratitude she receives from
the children as their caretakers.
“I think it just takes a moment to really
get to know a child and they can really
fi nd a genuine passion in an individual.
Th ey immediately receive you like family,”
Ortiz shared.
Ortiz said that an important factor of
the museum fi eld trip was to create an
itinerary to give the children a sense of
order and stability.
“We designed an itinerary that kinda
tells you what the day will be like. We like
them to know what happens next. I think
it could be very confusing,” she said. “We
told them what the day was gonna be like.
We did trivia on the bus about science
and the city, and that was fun.”
She added that the kids were “super
excited” to come to the museum and were
lined up at 7:30 in the morning for their
10 a.m. fi eld trip.
Robin White, the area manager of
external aff airs at AT&T, said that over
the past fi ve years the company has spent
over $10 million to fund STEM education
in New York City. In addition, they have
also donated an additional $1 million to
local education programs, which allowed
hundreds of young people to have access
to these programs.
Th is year AT&T expanded its funding
to arts and science programs to support
homeless youth and people in foster
care in the city. Other collaborations they
have supported over the past fi ve years
include Girls Who Code, All Star Code
and DreamYard.
“We want to ensure that all students are
able to have their eyes opened to STEM
opportunities and hands-on experiences
with technology especially,” White said.
“Th ese students weren’t necessarily getting
the same opportunities as other students,
whether because they don’t have
STEM in schools or they just don’t have
a way to access this outside of school. So
we wanted to support this unique opportunity
for them to come to the Hall of
Science,” she added.
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