Thanks to a grant from the Smithsonian Women’s Committee, the Smithsonian Science Education Center will hold its first ever Smithsonian Science Summer School from June 25th through August 1st, 2018 in Washington, DC. Also called S4, the initiative is a science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM) education program that connects the Center’s K-8 primary and middle school curriculum with the history, art, culture and science of the Smithsonian Institution for the benefit of local Washington, DC students.
Through six weeks of instruction on the Smithsonian curricula and a series of field trips, the S4 program will bring the Smithsonian to life for 135 students from local Title I schools in grades 1 through 8 in order to reduce the summer skills gap that occurs for underserved youth. For this effort the Center will collaborate with Horizons Greater Washington, a non-profit organization that offers a summer enrichment program to economically disadvantaged students in Washington, DC. The S4 Program also aligns with the Smithsonian’s strategic goal of reaching every student in the DC area, and demonstrating “One Smithsonian” by connecting the Smithsonian Science Education Center’s curriculum to the collections and exhibits of some of the Smithsonian’s most popular museums.