Topics and Expertise: Chancellor Award for Public Service

Camp founder continues quest to bring science to kids

Thu Jun 29, 2017
Hertema
Cindy Chew

Heather Hertema, PharmD ’10, founder of UCSF Summer Science Camp, returned for the camp’s 10th anniversary.

As a first-year UCSF PharmD student, Heather Hertema, PharmD ’10, had a big idea: a free summer camp for kids who might not otherwise be exposed to the creative problem-solving and making-things-explode fun of science.

A decade of launching rockets, cardboard boats—and kids into STEM

Tue Jun 20, 2017
kids raising hands
© majedphoto.com

Each year, Summer Science Camp brings 55 fifth- and sixth-grade students to the UCSF campus for a free week of learning and fun.

Ten years ago, at the inaugural UCSF Summer Science Camp, 10-year-old Najwa Anasse held a human brain in her hands—an “Aha!” experience that set her career path.

“I thought, ‘Oh my god, I want to study this.’ I was so excited,” says Anasse, who grew up in San Francisco’s Excelsior District and was...