Foster kids practice survival skills at 'STEM 4 Them' summer camp

 

STEVENSVILLE, Ind.-- There’s been a plane crash in Stevensville! Don't worry, it's just a simulation for the campers at "STEM 4 Them" to practice the survival skills they've been learning all week.

"We threw at them this morning that they are actually going on a camping trip, and we actually are going to get into a plane crash," said Bryce Thomas, a group leader at the summer camp. "So when they came down the hill, they found a bunch of debris, there's actually plane parts. There are miscellaneous things that can or can't be used to survive. So now, they have to currently figure out how to survive."

Campers got to work treating the "wounded," collecting materials, starting a fire, and building a shelter.

The camp is a chance for the children to be surrounded by others who have been through their unique circumstances.

"Our camp is geared toward any child who's ever been in foster care from ages 6 to 18," said Founder and Director Renee Peddie.

The camp is meant to intervene in the lives of foster kids through STEM: science, technology, engineering, and math.

"We want to teach them something," Thomas said. "We don't want them just coming here for a week to hang out, we genuinely want to teach them something."

Peddie founded the camp after learning a startling statistic.

"Kids in foster care, once they are 6 years old, 85% never get adopted," she said. "Of kids who age out of the system, 90 percent by their 21st birthday are either homeless, incarcerated, addicted to substances, pregnant, or dead. Ninety percent."

For Thomas, he sees himself in the campers.

"I get real with them when I say, 'Look, I'm in your shoes. You might not think it, but I moved out first when I was 15, I came from a rough home, and I had a lot of people pour into me and love me. And luckily, I finally decided to listen. Had I not, my life would have been different,'" Thomas said. "That's part of my passion for this program. I'm looking for me."

Besides creating a community among foster kids, STEM4Them is also a way to find forever families.

"We double as an adoption event as well."

In other words, prospective parents can volunteer to get to know local kids who may still be in the foster system in a pressure-free environment for the children.

In fact, Peddie herself actually met one of her children at the camp she started.

"That was 5 years ago," Peddie said. "Our family had three biological kids. We were open to adding to our family through adoption, and we met a girl, and she just fit, and we adopted her three years ago."

This week concludes the sixth STEM 4 Them summer camp, and there are also STEM Saturday events each month.

Learn more here.