Javier Chavez, left, and Sebastian Mederos, fifth grade, work together to design their bottle rocket.
Every good scientific exploration starts with questions, and at UCSF’s 2017 Summer Science Camp, the recent “bottle rocket engineering and launch day” was no different.
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.
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...
