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 hands—on 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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