Mass Audubon’s Boston Nature Center’s Kids to Camp Fund provides partial scholarships to enable Boston-area kids to attend its summer camps. Nearly half of all BNC families receive financial assistance on a sliding scale to make camp possible for their kids. You can donate here.
Category Archives: Opportunities
Caterpillar Lab Seeks Interns, Seasonal Employees, and Volunteers
The Caterpillar Lab in Marlborough, NH — founded by Newton alum Sam Jaffe — seeks interns, seasonal employees, and volunteers to help open people’s eyes to the natural value of their backyards, neighborhoods, and green spaces. Contact Sam Jaffe at jaffe@thecaterpillarlab.org.
N.E. Sci-Tech’s Youth Inventors Workshops on Saturday Mornings
New England Sci-Tech (NEST) STEM education center hosts its Youth Inventors Workshops on Saturdays, 9AM-Noon, throughout the year. They’re best for Grades 7-12, and students in Grades 5-6 may be included with special permission. Instructors are NEST teachers or volunteers, some with electronic or mechanical engineering degrees, as well as high-school or college students with experience in robotics or electronics. Students are encouraged to work in teams to design and build projects — brainstorming, sketching out ideas, calculating dimensions, learning to use design tools and software, building prototypes, testing and retesting, and solving problems that inevitably arise. The cost is $80 ($0 for NEST members).
Newton Neighbors Raising Funds for Summer Camp Scholarhips
Newton Neighbors Helping Neighbors seeks to raise $7,500 in March to help 15-20 local kids attend summer camp, including a two-week coding and STEM camp offered by Newton Community Education. Donate here.
N. E. Sci-Tech Rocketry Club Starts Mar. 20; First Launch May 28
The Rocketry Club of the New England Sci-Tech (NEST) STEM education center (16 Tech Circle, off Route 9 in Natick) will meet on Sundays, 2PM-4PM starting on March 20, as well as some Fridays, 6:30PM-8:30PM. It’s open to adults and children ages 13+ (parents of registered children may participate for free). Meetings are for club administration, guest speakers and the designing and building of rockets in preparation for five rocket launch events (320 School Street in Acton) between May and September (first event: May 28, 10AM-4PM).
Grades 7-12: Sign Up by Feb. 15 for MIT’s Spring (Virtual) HSSP, Saturdays, Feb. 26-Apr. 2
MIT’s Spring HSSP is a five-week academic program for Grades 7-12, presented (online this year) by MIT on Saturdays, February 26 to April 2 (except March 12), 1PM-4PM. All online registrations completed by February 15 will be considered equally in the course-assignment lottery, and registrations after that will be taken first-come/first-served. The cost is $40 per student (regardless of the number of courses taken) and generous, need-based financial aid is available. Email spring-hssp@mit.edu for more information. The Spring HSSP course catalog covers many academic and non-academic topics, including these STEM offerings:
- Optimization of Human Performance for Lunar Work Environments
- Introduction to Epidemiology
- Physics of Light: Theory and Experiments
- A Practical Guide to Quantum Computing
- Soils: Science, Practice, and Sustainability
- Lab Techniques in Chemistry
- Introduction to Human Body Systems
- Cultivate a Microbial Garden
- Sensory Neuroscience
- STEM Lecture Series
- AI and Science: An Introduction to AI and its Role in Modern Research
- Using Computer Science to Model our World
- Introduction to the Theory of Computation
- Quantum Field Theory: A Mathematical Perspective
- Math in Logic Puzzles
- Playing Games with Infinity
- Algebra. All of it. From the beginning
Museum of Science: New England Climate Stories, Exhibit Opens Feb. 17
Boston’s Museum of Science has a new temporary exhibit — New England Climate Stories — opening February 17 and included as part of museum admission. Masks and proof of vaccination are required. A new planetarium show, Explore: Our Changing Earth, will open February 19, with separate admissions pricing, and is recommended for Grades 4-12 and adults.
Mass. Life Sciences Center: Year-Round Internships for College Students and Graduates
The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center is facilitating and funding year-round, paid internships for Massachusetts college students and recent graduates through its Internship Challenge, creating over 550 opportunities each year in life sciences companies and academic research. There is no application deadline but students are encouraged to apply between February and April for the best chance at a summer placement. Employers do the interviewing and selection, then provide a mentor and a hands-on learning experience. Employers sign up here and applicants sign up here. For more information, email internship@masslifesciences.com.
HMSC’s Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments Re-Opens Jan. 24
Harvard Museums of Science and Culture will re-open its Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments on January 24. Reservations are required and Covid precautions are followed.
New England Sci-Tech: Yard Sale, Jan. 29
The New England Sci-Tech (NEST) STEM education center (16 Tech Circle, off Route 9 in Natick) will hold a yard sale on January 29, 8AM-Noon, to dispose of surplus items prior to an internal move. There will be games, toys, puzzles, electronics parts, test equipment, band saw, antique radios, network analyzer, spectrum analyzer, laser printer, used kites that need minor repair, kite spars of all sizes (carbon fiber tubes, fiberglass rods, snow stakes, wood dowels), books, t-shirts, science ties, blue glass bottles, hobby motors, antenna cable, rope, electric leaf blowers, safety goggles, tools, meters, transformers, power supplies, more cables, cable-wrap, a 10-shelf 70-bottle wooden wine rack (!), metal project boxes, etc.