On July 12^th, 2021, CICOES welcomed some intrepid visitors to the University of Washington campus – the members of this year’s Adventure Camp! Adventure Camp is a summer camp for children with social needs that encourages the development of social skills through science. Students from kindergarten to eighth grade spend 3-4 days traveling around UW and the greater Seattle area to participate in fun science-themed activities across many fields. Social skills curricula are embedded into each activity, allowing kids to form relationships with each other over a shared love of science. The two camp leaders and cofounders, Sylwia Mazur Johnson and Zoe Leverson, have worked as special educators at the UW and within Seattle Public Schools in the past, and have been running Adventure Camp for eleven years.

CICOES researchers Cynthia Christman, Molly McCormley, and Stacie Hardy stepped up to the plate to plan an exciting day for two groups of Adventure Camp students. They started off by asking students in each group to introduce themselves and share their favorite ocean animal. Then, the students got to learn a little more about life underwater by pasting together a food web of marine animals. The day finished up with something that Adventure Camp students were talking about for days afterwards – squid dissections! Each camp attendee was given a real squid and carefully guided through the process of cutting it open. Cynthia, Molly, and Stacie pointed out the different parts of squid anatomy and their purposes. The day concluded with thorough handwashing and snacks on the lawn adjacent to Wallace Hall. All in all, the day was a resounding success; we can’t wait to welcome Adventure Camp students back to CICOES in the future!