December 01, 1996
Summer Camp Brings Science to a Tough Urban Neighborhood
Lisa Tisby helps camper make a papier-mache ladybug at summer science camp organized by the New Jersey State Aquarium at Camden.
A wall mural across the parking lot provides a daily reminder that this is
one summer science camp where the main goal isn't for campers to
become scientists. It's for them to grow up safely so that a career
involving science becomes possible.
"RIP," the sign reads in bright colors, followed by the names of young
people killed in this part of Camden, New Jersey, one of the nation's
poorest cities. Many of the row houses along the Street have peeling
paint, broken windows and overgrown lawns. Nearby factories are locked.
Graffiti shimmers in the summer heat.
"A lot of people have given up on Camden," says Lisa Tisby, who grew up
in the neighborhood and now hopes to become a physician. "All the people
that could make a difference have left."
Not all Tisby turned down a higher-paying secretarial job this past summer
to share her interest in science with local children at the camp organized
by the New Jersey State Aquarium at Camden. Supported by a precollege
science education grant from the Institute, the camp provides a lively
assortment of handson lessons, field trips and recreational activities
for 60 children.
Tisby, 19, is one of the counselors. Her brother is in prison for dealing
drugs. Her three sisters became pregnant while in high school. Some of her
friends have been raped or murdered. Tisby herself struggled during her
first year at the Camden campus of Rutgers University, and worries about gaining admission to medical school. But she
won't give up on the neighborhood.
"I can't leave my kids," she says while taking a break from helping her
group of 5-, 6- and 7-year-olds to make colorful papier-mache ladybugs.
"If I've learned anything, it's that one person can make a big difference."
"I don't just see this as a place to come and get a paycheck," agrees her
assistant, 15 year old Shaun Jenkins. While the paint dries on the giant
ladybugs, he and Tisby lead the children outside to look for insects in a
courtyard of Coopers Poynt Elementary School, where the camp meets in the
classrooms and a guard watches the entrance. "They're very serious about
protecting the children," says the aquarium's Angie Wenger, the young
marine biologist who directs the camp. Less than five years old, the aquarium
is located along the east bank of the Delaware River, across from
downtown Philadelphia. Local planners, noting the success of aquariums
in Baltimore and other cities, hoped the new structure would stimulate
development in Camden, Initial attendance figures were disappointing.
But following a recent remodeling, the aquarium now bustles with colorful exhibits and demonstrations.
It also has expanded its outreach programs with the community. The HHMI
grant supports the summer camp, weekly ecology club meetings during the
school year and a junior staff program for Jenkins and other local
teenagers. The junior staffers take a 10-week training course at the
aquarium, where they learn about everything from oceanography to public
speaking. Then they become "explainers" at aquarium exhibits and shows.
Finally, when the summer comes, they work at the science camp.
"We want them to develop responsibility and think about higher
education," says Wenger. "They need these skills to be successful in the
workplace. The junior staffers, who receive a modest salary, have traveled
to Florida and elsewhere to study the marine environment.
Many of the counselors hope to pursue careers in medicine or teaching
as well as in other fields. And they clearly enjoy helping the campers
learn about biology, particularly about the local ecology. While Tisby and
Jenkins help the youngest children make ladybugs, for example. an older
group of children designs masks in the shape of bears and other animals.
Another group makes "fossils" from shells and clay, while the oldest group
of five middle school boys makes plans to build a working model of an
aquifer.
"We need a lot more minorities in science,'' says Lisa Tisby, who was
a junior counselor last year before being promoted this summer. "You need
to learn about science to find out if it's what you really want to do."
Tisby personifies both the challenge and promise facing not only the
Camden aquarium project but also HHMI-funded efforts in Chicago, Memphis, Jacksonville and other inner-city neighborhoods. The
hurdles she faces are daunting, but so is her determination to succeed and
help those around her.
Now a college sophomore, she calls on working scientists to
"get more involved personally in helping kids like these." And
she emphasizes that programs like the one in Camden are essential if
talented minority children from poor neighborhoods are to have a chance in
the world of science.
Photo: Art Wilkinson
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