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In honour of Giving Tuesday, the STEAM Education Centre in St. Thomas has launched their latest campaign.
Following both Black Friday and Cyber Monday, two days where we tend to go big in the holiday spending category, Giving Tuesday was designed to kick start the giving season with small acts such as volunteering or donating to a charity. Jessica Gransaull, Executive Director at the STEAM Centre says that Giving Tuesday seemed like the perfect opportunity to launch their Send a Child to STEAM Camp campaign. Read and listen to the whole story at the link above. Donate today at www.steameducation.ca/donate.html#/
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 November 24, 2021
For Immediate Release Denise Love STEAM Education Centre 226-212-0048 [email protected] STEAM Education Centre’s Send a Child to STEAM Camp campaign launch for Giving Tuesday, Global Day of Giving on November 30th St Thomas, ON November 19 2021- STEAM Education Centre is planning to launch the Send a Child to STEAM Camp fundraising campaign for GivingTuesday, a global giving movement driven by individuals, charities, businesses, and communities across Canada and in countries around the world. For this GivingTuesday the STEAM Education Centre, which is a registered charity, is hoping to help prepare students for the jobs of the future, some that haven’t been invented yet, by teaching important STEAM (science, technology, engineering,art and math) skills through their March Break and Summer Camp programming. Not everyone has access to participate so sponsoring a child to attend camp will go a long way to building their development. Our campaign will launch for GivingTuesday, encouraging those in the community to donate $25 (or more) to sponsor a day of camp for a child aged 7-12 years old. Those who wish to make a donation can do so at https://www.steameducation.ca/donate.html#/ GivingTuesday is the world’s largest generosity movement and is considered by many as the opening day of the giving season. GivingTuesday continues to gain traction across the country in its ninth year, with thousands of partner organizations and millions of Canadians expected to take part. Since 2013, GivingTuesday has united millions of Canadians to support and champion the causes they believe in and the communities in which they live. The impact of GivingTuesday goes well beyond charitable donations, inspiring giving in all its forms. From coast to coast to coast, people are embracing this day as an opportunity to raise money for local charities and nonprofits, run food and clothing drives, give blood, encourage kindness, help a neighbour and celebrate generosity. At a time when we are all experiencing the continued effects of the pandemic, GivingTuesday is an opportunity for people around the world to stand together in unity- to use their individual power of generosity to to remain connected and heal. So far more than 7,500 Canadian charities, businesses, and community groups have used GivingTuesday to rally generosity and help make the world a better place in countless ways. Around the globe there are official GivingTuesday movements in over 70 countries, including Australia, Brazil, Kenya, Slovenia, Tanzania, the UK and more. Other Important links: www.steameducation.ca www.givingtuesday.ca  August 31, 2021 For Immediate Release: STEAM Centre’s re//BUILD.IT Community program gives its 250th computer donation St Thomas, ON: The STEAM Education Centre’s award winning re//BUILD.IT Community computer donation program today marks their 250th computer donation. This program provides free refurbished computers to students, Indigenous communities and people with limited means, ensuring our most vulnerable can stay connected and achieve their potential. With more people being forced to learn and work from home due to the pandemic the community requests have been great since the pandemic’s inception and requests continue to come in daily. “We launched the computer donation program when local social workers and literacy organizations reached out for help. One year later, with HUGE thanks to generous supporters and technology donors, we celebrate donating our 250th computer!”, said Jessica Gransaull, Executive Director of the STEAM Centre. The program truly is a community effort with many local donors and organizations helping to ensure the program’s success including the Government of Canada/United Way, Green Lane Trust, Elgin Business Resource Centre, Kinsmen Club of St Thomas, MASCO, Diply, Century Sound and dmac Automation. The program was recognized in November 2020 by Future of Good’s digital summit (https://www.futureofgoodsummit.org/) as a Top 100 recovery project in Canada. Future of Good recognizes local projects that help communities bounce back from the pandemic’s social and economic impacts. "The opportunities that Steam Education has provided our clients is beyond amazing." - RSSW, Transition to Employment, Mental Health Worker “I just wish to extend my deepest thanks to all of you for the work you do. I just recently received a computer through your program and I must say it is beyond anything I could have expected, let alone afford. The ability to reconnect with my family in London and British Columbia has been such a gift that I really cannot express it enough, and the hardware itself is amazing.” - Christopher, re//BUILD.IT Community computer recipient The success of this program is dependent upon public and corporate computer donations, with the greatest current need being laptops. The need for access to equipment has not stopped and the Centre faces a regular 20-30 person waiting list for those in need. To support this program and to discover further details visit the program web page at: https://www.steameducation.ca/rebuildit.html#/ About STEAM Education Centre: The mission of STEAM Centre is to educate and empower learners to imagine and create the future through play, ingenuity, and innovation using science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM). This is achieved through comprehensive hands-on school programs, leadership programs engaging students at all levels in prototyping solutions, and essential skill building programs featuring coding and creating using traditional tools and emerging technologies. Contact: Denise Love Community and Communications Coordinator [email protected] 226-212-0048 Each July, the STEAM Education Centre completes a fiscal year and the STEAM Team comes together to discuss all of the 'wins', 'lessons' and BIG ideas for the future of the organization. All of this comes together in the STEAM Education Centre's annual report! Download the annual report and celebrate the amazing impacts and opportunities we created for students this year. It really was an awesome one for innovating learning and the ways that kids connect to the skills they will need most. Signed, Your STEAM Team 
 MYFM 94.1 and Williams Funeral Home Ltd present STEAM Student of the Month for June
https://www.stthomastoday.ca/steam-student-of-the-month/ Meet the STEAM Student of the Month - June 2021 Name: Thomas Papp-Simon School: Western University – Honours Specialization Graduate 2021 Time with STEAM: 3 months Intro: As a part of Western University’s Community Engaged Learning Seminar in Biology course, Thomas came to us to support the creation of the Bold Biology Summer Camp@Home experience. As a student group lead, Thomas helped to develop multiple engaging projects that we are excited to unveil for this summer’s camp that will provide fun learning experiments for the entire family. These ideas led to his becoming a Western University “Share Your Experience” essay winner making our summer camp now award winning! We are thrilled to introduce Thomas, and the next generation of teachers, innovators and problem solvers. Learn more about STEAM Education Centre’s school and community programs for student engagement and experiential learning at www.steameducation.ca. The Project: Hi, my name is Thomas Papp-Simon, and I just graduated from Western University with an Honours Specialization in Biology. As a part of the Community Engaged Learning program at Western, I worked on developing a biology summer camp along with two of my classmates, Alice and Brian. This biology summer program was designed to introduce different aspects of biology in a fun and interactive manner in a week-long summer camp. Each day of the week has its own theme and is composed of a few experiments where the students can explore different areas of the diverse field of biology! Thomas’ background: I’ve just finished the last year of my biology degree, where one of the courses I had to take was a seminar course. This course gave my colleagues and I the opportunity to partner with the STEAM Education Centre with the goal of interactively teaching young students about biology! I used to make educational videos on YouTube when I was younger, so that experience helped me in making the educational videos for this biology summer program, where I explained how to do each experiment step-by-step. What difference do you think the project you are working on will have? It is important to realize that not every student has the same privileges when it comes to learning and education. Developing this project will give the opportunity and the resources needed for those students to learn more about biology and science. Programs like this one can be developed for different subjects related to science, technology, engineering, art, and math, which can encourage more and more students to become interested in being our next generation of scientists! Celebrating those who give back
Name: Sarah Macintyre
Title: Manager, Ottawa Public Library We reached out to monthly donor and past volunteer Board Chair, Sarah Macintyre to find out why she chooses to support the STEAM Education Centre and how you can too! When did you get involved with STEAM? "I was involved at the very beginning when the idea first came up as a possibility. It was just a few folks in a room with a little bit of seed funding. We felt as though St Thomas had a good energy but there was a gap - there was no tech hub. The STEAM Centre started as a way to help youth maximize their potential in St Thomas... At the time, I managed the technology department at St. Thomas Public Library, so it was a natural fit." During the time you were on the board what was your favourite memory? "For me what was most rewarding, was getting to work with such great people. When I look back to all the positive things, watching the folks, stakeholders and other board members show up to the meetings and really giving it their all. Getting to know the team. It's special when you have a variety of people with different backgrounds come together because of something that they all believe in." You’ve been a regular monthly donor. What made you decide to give first donation? "I guess the very first donation I gave was the gift of time. It's where I started. I was attending the meetings, participating in Doors Open St Thomas and getting involved with the STEAM Centre. When you are in the role of the Board Chair, especially for a non profit organization, a fair bit of that role is fund development. You cannot approach community organizations about giving money if you are not actually doing it yourself. Early on I said I have to put my money where my mouth is so I became a monthly donor." What keeps you donating even though you moved away? "It's an easy way to support the Centre, and it has just become a regular part of my budget. I don't have to think about it because it's automatically set up. At the end of the year I get the full year tax receipt, and it’s easy to manage. For me, it may be a small gesture, but for the STEAM Centre I know that monthly donations are a great place to start, and that they are an important part of ongoing fund development. Just because I moved away doesn't mean that the STEAM Centre stops existing! All of the great reasons I got involved in the first place are still there, and I want to continue to support the community, this project, and the program. There is no reason to stop; I believed in it then and I believe in it now." There are so many charities. Why consider the STEAM Centre to donate to? "When we have opportunities in our lives to give back I think it is vitally important. What is really great about the Steam Centre is that when you do give your money you are able to see the impact of that. You are able to see in your community the difference that dollar has made. You see the programs that they are running, you see the teens and people being positively impacted by their services. I know that the outcomes are not just kids playing with technology - the outcome of supporting a program like this is supporting things like university readiness, and career development in kids and teens. Having an innovation mindset is key for our students to really grasp what that means, especially as our society starts to deal with tremendous problems like climate change. I think the kind of curiosity that an organization like the STEAM Centre fosters in our community cannot be understated. You give money to an organization and you really see the kind of good that it is doing. I really think it can't be beat." In your opinion what is the most important thing the organization does? "I think that it is connecting with the youth. I think that the STEAM Centre's strength and value they bring to the community is that they offer a unique service, a unique experience. They are connecting the teens and the students to a new way of thinking, a new way of problem solving, which is so important. It’s making sure that the students and participants leave their programs feeling inspired and feeling as though this is something that they could get involved in in the future." Join Sarah and become a monthly donor today at: www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/steam-education-centres-incorporated/?sm=1 Student volunteer, Shukri Matan is featured as the STEAM Student of the Month at https://www.stthomastoday.ca/steam-student-of-the-month/ Supported by MYFM 94.1 and Williams Funeral Home Limited Shukri is volunteering with our STEAM Community Studio Virtual Marketplace project with the goal of helping downtown St Thomas businesses get more online presence and recognition. Stay tuned for a downtown wide instagram event coming soon!  $31,700 OTF grant enriches lives and gives community members a voice by funding artistic tools and the creation of an audio/video production studio at STEAM Education Centre We are delighted to be the recipient of an Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) $31,700 Capital Grant. This grant will allow the Centre to build an audio/video/production technology based studio that will enrich the lives of the local community by providing a space where further art and technology education can be explored. Students from the Ignite Youth Centre, other youth groups and members of the community will be able to access the space, once in person visits are safe to do so, and use it to create videos and podcasts as well as to explore other digital technologies. This provides an opportunity for sharing voices that might not otherwise be heard and teaches fundamental arts and technology skills. “Students love to make and create to demonstrate what they're learning. The creative process is also about giving students tools to construct a variety of emerging technologies to learn through experience. This Capital grant from OTF will give students an opportunity to create their own expressions, build meaning, work through problems, and acquire new knowledge and skills in context,” says Jessica Gransaull, Executive Director STEAM Centre. The OTF grant will allow for the acquisition of:
The Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) is an agency of the Government of Ontario, and one of Canada’s leading granting foundations. OTF awarded $108 million to 629 projects last year to build healthy and vibrant communities in Ontario. |
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