I reached out to the Program Director of High Touch High Tech of Maine, Genia Sklute, in January about enlisting her services to help bring my 6-year-old daughter’s science-themed birthday party to life. While being somewhat familiar with the business beforehand, it was in that conversation that I became really intrigued with this business and their extensive offerings.
An Impressive Background
What was most intriguing to me about this business? Genia’s level of education and background that she is able to apply to this role. Genia is actually a scientist with a PhD in Chemistry! With the opportunity to conduct significant chemical research, I couldn’t help but wonder and ask what led Genia from all of this to a role that focuses on educating children?
Genia came into this role with a background in being an educator as well, teaching chemistry at universities for many years and serving as the founder and director of a university honors program. Genia explained,
“Those roles provided me a unique opportunity to observe what works in education as a whole and in science education in particular. I always believed that kids (and adults) have better appreciation for and excitement about science if they are introduced to it in a way that is intuitive and relatable and as I observed young adults, I realized that it will be more effective if this introduction happens early in the child’s life. As I was considering it, I came across High Touch High Tech and the more I learned about it, the more I realized that it is a great fit to put my ideas and experience into practice. I feel fortunate that my experiences in life led me to my greatest passion – inspiring children to get excited about science.”
More Than Birthday Parties…
While I can attest to the fact that Genia can put on a great birthday party “performance”, her offerings for kids extend well beyond this. When asked for more details about her offerings, Genia explained,
“We are offering a wide-variety of programming for kids ages 3-12. Those include, curriculum-aligned in-school field trips, afterschool programs, camps, parties and special events. In other words, we believe that we can meet kids wherever they are and engage them with hands-on science! Our philosophy is based on the idea that we all learn better and remember what we’ve learned when we are actively engaged in the process; what we refer to as guided inquiry. Our instructors-scientists are there to facilitate the process, while the kids inquire about how small and big things work and perform different experiments that answer those questions. The results are excitingly engaging and memorable. We often meet kids who participated in our programs in early age and reflect on their experience years later.”
In the Classroom
If your kids were recently raving about a scientist visiting their school, there’s a good chance it was Genia or a member of her team! She has been traveling around and visiting schools across New England, helping to take the science curriculum to the next level and make it FUN! Genia explained,
“High Touch High Tech’s motto is “Science Made FUN!”. Our instructors are passionate about science, and we are excited to share our immersive science activities with you. We hope to reach as many kids in Maine as possible!”
Many Science Topics
If you’re like me and really only picturing chemistry-related programming, there is actually so much more that High Touch High Tech is offering in their curriculum. When I asked Genia what she wished more people knew about her business, Genia explained,
“We have a wide range of programming about (almost) every topic associated with science, from ocean ecosystems to indigenous engineering. All our programs are designed to align with the developmental stage of the respective age group and be FUN.”
In summary, whether you’re like me and have a young child becoming interested in science and you want to have an awesome birthday party, or if you want to bring some great and FUN science programming to a classroom, you should definitely reach out to High Touch High Tech of Maine.
Learn more and find all contact information on the High Touch High Tech of Maine website: https://sciencemadefunme.net/
All photos in this article were provided by: Webb Photo of Portland, Maine
