Written by Executive Director, Carmen Castillo-Barrett
I'd always wanted to teach science to young children. In college, I initially majored in just biology, not entirely ready to commit to a future career in middle or high school science (this was back before the value of early childhood education was fully appreciated). A summer working in the education department of the Bronx Zoo changed that. I was going to be a science teacher! That semester, I officially changed my major to Elementary Education (N-6) with a concentration in Biology and Math.
I was really excited about my chosen path except for the fact that science education was still limited to older students. I faced a lot of challenges with my professors in my desire to teach science to children in grades 3 and under. Thankfully, I received incredible support and guidance from my mentor teacher during my student teaching. I was placed in the second grade, and the classroom teacher let me teach science. After my student teaching was done, I kept in touch with the class and was able to dabble in long distance teaching while travelling to the Galapagos.
Unfortunately, jobs in early childhood science education were practically nonexistent at the time. Over the course of almost ten years, I taught middle and high school science. And then I quit teaching.
Three years went by and one day I randomly stumbled upon an ad for a science teacher with a specialty in early childhood. I returned to teaching. Years later, while taking a career pause to care for my children, I gave a lot of deep thought to all I'd learned about science, teaching, and teaching science (all three different things). I rejoined the working world with a position that dealt with collecting and analyzing data. Science education data.
Kiddie Science was born out of the need to reconnect our youth with science.
Having no capital to kick start a business, my husband and I personally funded all the organization's initial expenses through a loan made by a handy dandy credit card. For the first year and a half, I was an unpaid employee, technically a volunteer. It was a scary leap to make but it was necessary. There was a lot of paperwork (a lot!). There were tears, lots of second guesses, emotional and physical exhaustion, frustration. Then finally THE envelope arrives. The IRS had approved the application for tax exempt status. Kiddie Science was a nonprofit organization! Which brings us to the present...
Operating on a shoestring budget of less than $20,000 per year, Kiddie Science has presented fun, engaging, hands-on science workshops to 758 young scientists...and counting.
I'd always wanted to teach science to young children. In college, I initially majored in just biology, not entirely ready to commit to a future career in middle or high school science (this was back before the value of early childhood education was fully appreciated). A summer working in the education department of the Bronx Zoo changed that. I was going to be a science teacher! That semester, I officially changed my major to Elementary Education (N-6) with a concentration in Biology and Math.
I was really excited about my chosen path except for the fact that science education was still limited to older students. I faced a lot of challenges with my professors in my desire to teach science to children in grades 3 and under. Thankfully, I received incredible support and guidance from my mentor teacher during my student teaching. I was placed in the second grade, and the classroom teacher let me teach science. After my student teaching was done, I kept in touch with the class and was able to dabble in long distance teaching while travelling to the Galapagos.
Unfortunately, jobs in early childhood science education were practically nonexistent at the time. Over the course of almost ten years, I taught middle and high school science. And then I quit teaching.
Three years went by and one day I randomly stumbled upon an ad for a science teacher with a specialty in early childhood. I returned to teaching. Years later, while taking a career pause to care for my children, I gave a lot of deep thought to all I'd learned about science, teaching, and teaching science (all three different things). I rejoined the working world with a position that dealt with collecting and analyzing data. Science education data.
Kiddie Science was born out of the need to reconnect our youth with science.
Having no capital to kick start a business, my husband and I personally funded all the organization's initial expenses through a loan made by a handy dandy credit card. For the first year and a half, I was an unpaid employee, technically a volunteer. It was a scary leap to make but it was necessary. There was a lot of paperwork (a lot!). There were tears, lots of second guesses, emotional and physical exhaustion, frustration. Then finally THE envelope arrives. The IRS had approved the application for tax exempt status. Kiddie Science was a nonprofit organization! Which brings us to the present...
Operating on a shoestring budget of less than $20,000 per year, Kiddie Science has presented fun, engaging, hands-on science workshops to 758 young scientists...and counting.
