Museum Programs Help Launch Science Careers

Ariel Augusto Flores has a recurring dream.

The 13-year-old from Boyle Heights is standing on the stage at a scientific conference, presenting his latest discovery to a flabbergasted audience. When he finishes, the audience erupts in applause.

Ariel said his dream may one day be fulfilled thanks in part to youth programs at the California Science Center.

The popular museum in Exposition Park received $15,000 this year from the Los Angeles Times Holiday Campaign to help fund its youth programs. The campaign raises money for nonprofit agencies in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties.

“I’ve been looking for a Catholic high school to go to and I’ve been visiting science departments at a lot of schools,” Ariel said. “But many of the experiments they do, I’ve already done at the science center. I’ve dissected a pig’s heart, I’ve made my own crystal. An instructor once showed us how different elements change the color of fire.”

The center’s programs are designed to lure kids from the surrounding area, where public schools often lack money to have sophisticated labs and materials.

The most popular program is the Curator Kids Club, which allows 10- to 13-year-olds such as Ariel to learn about the fundamentals of science and conduct experiments in the center’s labs.

Older teenagers can join the Learn to Earn internship program, in which they earn money working as teaching aides in the curators program. They also study scientific topics that interest them.

“Most kids have a natural curiosity and want to learn about how the world works,” said Jeffrey Rudolph, the center’s president and chief executive. “Our approach is to nurture that interest and, instead of teaching science by making them memorize a lot of facts, we present it as a process of discovering, inquiring and learning about the world.”

The other goal, Rudolph said, is to teach kids that any career is attainable. Since math and science are perceived as the most difficult subjects in school, tackling them is seen as a way to persuade students to shoot for the stars -- perhaps literally -- in their educational careers.

This year, for example, the Curator Kids are ruminating over physics. Lecturers from the science center and other professions will talk to students about their jobs.

The students are even building model roller coasters to learn how to quantify speed and gravity.

It’s tough work, said Rudolph, but some kid has to do it.

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HOW TO GIVE

The annual Holiday Campaign is part of the Los Angeles Times Family Fund, a fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation, which this year will match the first $800,000 raised at 50 cents on the dollar.

Donations (checks or money orders) supporting the campaign should be sent to: L.A. Times Holiday Campaign, File 56986, Los Angeles, CA 90074-6986.

Do not send cash. Credit card donations can be made on the website: latimes.com/holiday campaign.

All donations are tax deductible.

Contributions of $50 or more may be published in The Times unless a donor requests otherwise; acknowledgment cannot be guaranteed. For more information, call (800) LATIMES, Ext. 75771.