HELENA — The annual Helena High School Science Circus has chosen to continue last year’s virtual event with take-home kits instead of holding a weekend-long in-person event.
Rather than letting the pandemic cancel yet another event, the students have decided to keep the circus alive by allowing parents and kids to pick up their choice of science experiments at the school.
Science Circus has been showcasing science to young kids for over 30 years now. The circus works to promote science interest and understanding through interactive experiments. The proceeds from the event help HHS Science Seminar students go on an immersive field trip to the Seeley Swan and create scholarships for students in the class.
“In the past, when we've been able to go in and do this giant thing in the gym, it's not like that because we can't do that because of COVID, but we have been able to change it up a bit and I think that it's a really cool idea just being able to be your own scientist at home," explained HHS student Olivia Coburn. "And even though we can't come into the gym and do this big thing that we used to do, we're still able to bring science to the kids."
Even though there won’t be an event in the gym, some HHS students will be visiting a select group of elementary schools to demonstrate some experiments.
Missy Sampson, a science teacher at Helena High, says that the idea of at-home kits worked well last year and should be a hit again this year.
“So, the kids came up with this idea of selling kits, science kits for kids. This class did their original kits and came up with the ones that they thought would be engaging, and that kids would like and safe and science, and just to have fun with science. So, that's kind of where we've been and, you know, this is just where we're at at this point in time and it, I think it's going to work well. It worked well last year,” says Sampson.
The kits are available to order from February 14 to March 7 and will be available for pick up starting on March 11. The $10 kits are made by the Helena High School Science Seminar class. The types of experiments range from making your own bouncy balls, to making your own geodes, making your own rock candy and more. More information can be found on their website.
