Science Vortex hosts 6-week summer camp free to COCSD students

Cottonwood Community School second-grader Nora Millikan said finding water insects was “neat.”

During her first summer at Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District’s Camp Innovation, the six-week summer camp free for COCSD families, she went on a field trip from the Science Vortex in Cottonwood to Tuzigoot National Monument.

“We found the ones that only like clean water use the water that’s clean,” she said during a celebration potluck for the camp on June 24.

These were macroinvertebrates, Science Vortex Executive Director Laurie Altringer said.

“They’re water-quality indicators,” Altringer said. “So they’re learning about water quality.

“The way we set it up is that they start learning about Artemis missions. So, ‘what do you need to inhabit the moon, and then eventually Mars?’ ‘What would you need for a moon base?’ And, so, they come up with food, shelter, water, clean air or oxygen. And then they do experiments, and we shoot off rockets here and collect data, and then, we bring it back down to Earth and talk about ‘what do we need here on Earth?’”

The camp, which is primarily grades one through eight, took an additional field trip with its about 200 students to places along the Verde River for more hands-on learning about water.

The Science Vortex has programs like this throughout the summer, although this six-week program was the only free one, because of its partnership with COCSD.

Science Vortex held public camps in both Sedona and Cottonwood, with two more planned for Cottonwood and one in Sedona.

The July 13 through 16 camp at the Science Vortex in Cottonwood is sold out and was for ages 6 to 9.

The next one is scheduled for ages 8 to 12 from July 20 to 23. The Sedona camp is from July 20 to 24 for ages 6 to 9. Visit sciencevortex.org for more information.

The 21st Century Program

The six-week-long Camp Innovation is run through partnerships with COCSD’s 21st Century Program and the Cottonwood Public Library.

“We don’t just function off of the 21st Century grant, we also use other grants, too,” said Teddy Armstrong, 21st Century Program coordinator.

“That is the biggest grant that we use, but in all fairness, we like to just call it our afterschool program. We have about 200 after school programs district wide, that is not including athletics.”

The summer programs include working with the Science Vortex, Wheel Fun nonprofit, the library and Mingus Union High School’s A Troupe of Ridiculous Thespians group for its theater camp.

This is Camp Innovation’s sixth year at the Science Vortex.

“We’re out at Oak Creek School, Laurie’s kids go there, and I was working with the principal at the time, ‘why don’t we just try to do our program at the vortex instead of trying to hire teachers who didn’t want their summers off,’” Armstrong said is how it started. “The next year we had another school under 21st [Century grant] and we were like, ‘how do we utilize the Vortex still while we’re doing this,’ and now we have all four schools.”

Because of grant requirements, Camp Innovation is also required to participate in a summer reading program.

“They have a weekly visit with us to check out books, we got [them] all set up with a student card, so they could check out those books,” Cottonwood library Youth Services Supervisor Danielle Ave said. “They’re all coming, they’re utilizing the library.”

“We also walk to the [Cottonwood Recreation] Center,” Armstrong said. “Lot of these kids have never been to the pool, they always swim in the river, you know?”

Science Vortex

In addition to the summer camps, the Science Vortex is open weekly on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. for open play and exploration, Thursdays from 4:30 to 6 p.m. for Family Makerspace and Fridays from 10 to 11 a.m. for little learners STEAM time.

For 13-year-old Tanner Williford and his friend, 14-year-old Josiah Pirtle, the Thursday Makerspace times are best.He likes to find ways to make cool shapes and sculptures.

“I cut up the cardboard and glue it together,” Williford said.

“I’ve got to come here more often,” Pirtle said during the celebration potluck on June 24. “I’ve been trying to get into cosplay.”

The Science Vortex also has demonstrations, mostly during its camps, on different science concepts.

During the June 24 event, Mica Altringer, Laurie’s daughter, held a lightbulb in one hand and had all the students form a circle and hold hands or touch elbows.

“When we turn the light on, it’s a closed circuit, and when we turn it off, it’s an open circuit,” she said. “So, for this circuit, we need a closed circuit, which means we all need to be touching.”

After the students completed the circuit and made the light bulb turn off, Laurie Altringer asked for two students on the opposite side of the light bulb to separate, causing the light bulb to turn off.

Other demonstrations included dry ice smoking in water, a Van de Graaff generator displaying static electricity and transferring thermal energy from a flashlight.