A foamy science experiment from the Praxis Science Outreach Society goes off at Pioneer House.--SUBMITTED PHOTO
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Praxis Science Outreach Society has been igniting the scientific spark in youth across southern Alberta for 31 years. Now due to government funding drying up, it is being forced to make some cuts.
Senior scientific consultant Patty Rooks of Praxis Science says the non-profit ran through consistent funding from the provincial government. When that dried up a few years ago she says they kept scaling back to keep all programs running until now, when they’ve scaled back as much as they can and the board made difficult decisions to stop offering certain programs and services.
“It’s about reaching the students in our communities, and especially the rural communities,” Rooks said. “We don’t have the opportunities or large urban centres, we don’t have science centres for kids to go to, we don’t outreach programs or universities. I’m very passionate about the programs we have for the kids and trying to get them back into their hands.”
Some of the Praxis programs being cut include its Hands-on Learning Resource Kits, field trip assistance and science workshops.
She says they also won’t be able to be out in the community at events like Stampede and Canada Day due to the lack of funding, which is something she enjoyed the most.
“Nothing makes me more proud, and I’ve worked for Praxis for almost those 31 years, nothing makes me more proud than when a child comes up to you after doing a science experiment and says, ‘I love science, that was so exciting,'” Rooks said. “Just seeing that light bulb come on because so many people are scared of science but just realizing it’s part of our life. It doesn’t have to be hard and complicated.
“I get up in the morning because I want to see those kids have the opportunity. So students can be able to build robots in their classroom because that might be a future engineer and just give them that interest and passion and excitement to go off to university and become educated and come back to our rural communities and continue to make them vibrant.”
Rooks says the board is committed to trying to continue core programs and services and is also working to find new short-term and long-term funding to restore what has been cut.
“Should a funder step up that wants to take on a program and say, ‘Your mandate to have the hands-on learning kits really fits well with our company and business, how can we fund that,'” Rooks said. “We’re willing to sit down with organizations, businesses and individuals on how we can make that happen.
“We’re flexible, that’s how we operate. It’s how can we do the best we can on very little and we’re willing to work as much as we can just so we can continue to get the science into the hands of the children in our communities.”
Anyone interested in supporting Praxis is asked to reach out at praxis@praxismh.ca, or call 403-527-5365. Rooks asks to be patient if you call, as they’ve also cut regular office hours.
“You never know what a child might need to encourage that learning,” Rooks said. “For instance, this year we had our 31st annual operation Minerva program and four of my volunteers were girls who were in my program 10 years ago. I like to think that we sparked the interest in those young ladies to go have a STEM career, and that’s why we do what we do.”
