Stanstead science camp offers students a chance to build skills outside of school

The average 15-year-old might not consider visiting a granite mine a fun way to spend a week of summer.

But high schooler Elizabeth Keeler happily shares pictures of herself in a yellow hard hat, surrounded by a group of Grade 5 and 6 students doing just that in Stanstead, Que., this past August.

Keeler was hired as a counsellor for a weeklong STEAM (for Science, Technology, Engineering Arts, Math) camp, designed to get 10- to 13-year olds building skills outside the classroom. She says it wasn't just the kids who were picking up new things.

"It was a great learning experience," Keeler says. "I'd always kind of liked science but to see the kids really challenge themselves and work with them was really good."

Camp a chance for kids to showcase talents

The STEAM camp is a free activity run by the local non-profit organization Phelps Helps. For the past 10 years it's been offering after-school homework help and tutoring to students, in English and in French, at the elementary and high school level in the community in Quebec's Eastern Townships.

The camp is bilingual. Some kids speak English and little French or vice versa, so communication is part of the learning process.

Eleven-year-old Jaden Harden took part in the camp this summer. He says it only took a few days until his team was working together.

"We built a Big Ben tower. It had to be over five feet tall, so that was hard," says Harden. "And we had to build a boat and the boat had to float."

Katie Lowry, the programs co-ordinator for Phelps Helps, says the STEAM science camp offers students a chance to play to their strengths in a way school might not.

"We have a lot of kids who are very strong and capable, maybe not in a traditional academic sense, but these kids know how to work with their hands," Lowry says. "We wanted to tap into that interest and skill to instill a love of learning."

Giving kids that sense of being good at something could be key to them sticking with school.

Promoting a sense of pride

When Phelps Helps was founded in 2012, it was to help improve high school graduation rates in Stanstead, which lagged behind the regional and provincial average.

Stanstead is a rural community, with a lot of socio-economic challenges. It's far removed from bigger Eastern Townships cities like Magog and Sherbrooke, and their educational resources. It can be a tough transition when local students head off to the big regional high schools.

A big part of Phelps Helps' mission is to give students confidence in their ability to succeed.

"We talk a lot about how kids from this area have been stigmatized," says Lowry. "They maybe come from a background that doesn't have as much, or where education hasn't been made a priority. But we always talk in our team about not lowering expectations. We want to show them they can be proud, they can do it. They come from a good place."

One way of removing stigma is for Phelps Helps programs to be open to everyone and to be voluntary. Students have the choice to attend. And they do. Phelps Helps statistics show that 100 per cent of elementary school students in Stanstead have participated in at least one of its programs.

Brooklynn Phaneuf is one of them. The Grade 5 student thinks kids in Stanstead are lucky to have access to a homework help service in their own backyard.

"Places like Montreal might not have sources like this to come and learn with your friends. And you know everyone."

A community success

Graduation rates in Stanstead have risen by 20 per cent in the past decade, in part because of the programs at Phelps Helps.

Lowry says the success of the organization hinges on people wanting to contribute. She gives credit to the volunteers, among them retired teachers, who give their time as tutors, and the grandparents who drop off after-school snacks for the kids.

Lowry gets emotional describing how members of Phelps' first cohorts, now students at CEGEP, are coming back to help the next generation.

"They've learned through practice the value of giving back," says Lowry. "And they really want to help their community thrive."

Lowry also singles out The Townshippers Foundation, who gave Phelps Helps a grant to fund the STEAM camp this summer.

"They trust us, on the ground, to know what the needs are. And being from the Townships, they get it."

Looking past the tough patches to the future

Elizabeth Keeler is an example of a Phelps Helps client who's already giving back.

Keeler left Quebec for Ontario last year, feeling like she had to find herself. When she came back to Stanstead this summer and was trying to figure out how to reconnect, Phelps Helps was the first place she went.

"School's been a huge struggle my whole life. And since fifth grade, I've always come to Phelps and it's always a positive place and I know I won't be judged for who I am or how I'm doing in school."

Getting a job as a counsellor at the science camp was the highlight of Keeler's summer. She's back in Phelps after-school sessions, and now wants to get her diploma and work with children.

Keeler says she connects with kids who don't have an easy time in school, because she's been there. And she has a message for them, when times get tough.

"Honestly, don't stop looking far ahead of you," says Keeler. "I've had times where I just wanted to give up. But I was looking at it the other day and there is no point, because there is so much out there."

Phelps Helps' summer STEAM science camp is an initiative funded by CBC Quebec's Charity of the Year, The Townshippers Foundation. Find out more about the foundation here.