Pictured above, Mike and Deena Antiporda at Inspired by Science Camp 2023
Inspiration comes in different ways for each of us. For Deena Antiporda, some sources of her inspiration are her children and science. Antiporda is the President/Executive Director for Inspired by Science, a 501(c)3 organization which provides hands-on science and learning activities for children ages 7-12 in Eddy County and beyond. To date the organization has impacted approximately 8,000 kids.
Her son Logan has always been fascinated with science, and when he was in second grade he asked his mom to do some experiments with him. “I researched some and we had so much fun doing them. I remember making a homemade thermometer and then an anemometer. At that point, I became hooked and haven’t stopped doing experiments since!” Antiporda shared.
“That was 2009. I started thinking that if he was having so much fun with the experiments, there had to be other kids who would enjoy it, too. I decided to ask the principal of Monterrey (Therese Rodriguez) if she would be interested in starting a science club. She loved the idea and we had it up and running within a few months. That was February 2010. I expected about 25 kids, but instead we had 75! In 2013, I wanted a way to raise funds for the club, so I started a fund at the Carlsbad Community Foundation. We were able to accept donations and apply for grants. Inspired by Science was born!” Antiporda reminisced.
As with any organization, time brings about evolution and change. With ‘10 Trips Around the Sun’ under their belts, Inspired by Science has adapted along the way to fit the needs of the community.
“Other than supporting STEM at Monterrey, our big event has been our annual summer camp. In January 2020, we became a 501(c)3 organization. To get through the coronavirus pandemic, we created an online camp. We have continued to have an online event since then. We have also created various other workshops focusing on a particular project, such as hydraulic arms and air-powered dragsters. Some of these events are Family Lab Partner events that pair up a kid with a family member,” she said.
“We also collaborate with the Carlsbad Public Library and the National Cave and Karst Research Institute (NCKRI). We are a part of the library’s STEM Club and we do presentations throughout the year for children. NCKRI allows us to use their space to host our events. From time to time we are invited to set up a table at community events such as the Desert Willow Wildlife Rehabilitation Fundraiser and the Oil and Gas Summit,” Antiporda added.
Last year, the organization expanded the summer camp to Artesia where they teamed up with the Artesia Public Schools and the PY Foundation. This has become an annual event for Artesia. Inspired by Science also visits the Carlsbad Prep Academy once a month for hands-on science fun. Plans for the future include continuing to offer more events, especially Family Lab Partner events focusing on family and developing new ways to reach as many kids as possible.
Inspired by Science summer camp caps out at 100 young scientists, and fills within days of registration opening. The annual summer camp has traditionally been held on the campus of SENMC, Southeast New Mexico College (formerly NMSU-C).
For Antiporda, her favorite part of camp is “watching everyone having fun helping the kids with the projects and watching the kids absolutely light up when they learn something new.”
Ariana Patel, a local 6th grader who has attended camp for the past few years shared her favorite part about camp is the engineering aspect. “The process of building something, and seeing how we can improve the project, our egg broke with the zipline,” she said. The challenge is also something she enjoys, the egg zipline had time and material constraints, which encouraged campers to be innovative with their designs.
The purpose of the organization is to promote STEM education at the elementary school level in hopes of inspiring students to pursue education and careers in STEM-related fields. To assist with this, Inspired by Science brings in industry partners like SIMCO and Mosaic that help with activities and the camp through sponsorships and volunteering time. To learn more about how to become a lab partner/sponsor or for more information about Inspired by Science visit https://inspiredbyscience.org/
Upcoming events for Inspired by Science include the Artesia summer camp, July 5-7 (which is full) and a STEM program at the Carlsbad Public Library on July 26th from 3:30-4:30 pm for 1st – 5th graders. To register for this program call the library at 575.885.6776.
Story and photos by Michele Robertson
Author’s note:
Inspired by Science is near and dear to me. When my kids were in elementary at Monterrey we were lucky to get to experience science with Mrs. Antiporda at the school and the summer camps. We’ve been to all the camps except the first one as we missed registration. I started with registering the kids for camp and dropping them off while I went to work. As they came home with their projects all I could think was how cool they were and that I wished I could do that. So I started pestering Mrs. Antiporda to let me help and she finally gave in and let me. Now she’s stuck with me.
As we are in the midst of our tenth trip around the sun as an organization, I’m lucky to serve on the board of Inspired by Science as the Vice President. I get to share those same moments that she talks about above, watching our volunteers and Youth Leadership team help other kids, and seeing the campers ‘a-ha’ moments when they have a realization or understanding of the concept presented. Being able to let the kids experiment with supplies and use their critical thinking skills to figure out how to put something together is, to me, the best way of educating. My daughters and I volunteer our time so that we can share our love of science with others, and we are grateful to the Antipordas for taking a chance and creating an organization that has inspired us, and thousands of others.
