Feb. 26, 2024 - After years of transformation, the CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI) Science Carnival is back, bigger and better, as the CSUCI School of Arts and Sciences STEAM Carnival. STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics.
“It took a while to make this happen again, but I am so, so, so excited,” said Acting Dean of Arts & Sciences Phil Hampton, who started the carnival. “COVID nearly eliminated the event but now it has grown up into the Arts and Sciences (A&S) STEAM Carnival. We’ve added the arts, but it’s a very long bar over the ‘A’ to make it include art, social science and humanities.”
Kids from kindergarten through 8th grade and their families are welcome to the free carnival on March 9 from 2 to 5 p.m. at CSUCI’s Central Mall. Hampton, who is also a Professor of Chemistry, said the STEAM Carnival will have 72 exhibits where kids will have fun discovering the sciences, arts, social sciences, and humanities with activities ranging from Virtual Reality demonstrations to slime-making stations to sun prints of plants - and much more.
Hampton launched the Science Carnival in 2009 as a way to interest kids age pre-K through 8 in science by showing them how much fun science can be. Over 100 exhibits were set up at the Science Carnival where kids could make soap monsters in microwaves, watch pumpkins explode and experience the iconic flaming Gummi bear presentation.
Fossils, marshmallow shooters and robots were also part of the exhibits as the Science Carnival grew year after year, drawing thousands of kids and families each year. At its peak in Fall 2018, nearly 3000 individuals attended the event. The last in-person Science Carnival was in early March 2020, just before COVID.
“Ever since 2009, I wanted a night where families could experience the wonder and amazement behind science,” Hampton said. “Now I want them to see the University, too and picture themselves here someday.”
The Science Carnival was held in Camarillo for the first three years, then moved to Oxnard. This is the first year it will be held on the CSUCI campus.
“As much as I wanted to bring science to the community, I want to introduce them to the campus in this next version of the carnival,” Hampton said. “I wanted families to experience a broader set of disciplines and I wanted them to come to our campus and be able to tour the campus. We need to encourage kids to think about envisioning themselves here.”
Campus tours will be available for guests, as well as a “Photograph Your Future” booth, compliments of CSUCI Admissions and Outreach.
“We’re going to have all kinds of costumes where kids can dress up as what they want to become,” Hampton said. “They can be a graduating senior with a cap and gown, a doctor, a nurse, or a scientist. And we’re set up to take Polaroids.”
Besides CSUCI students, many organizations and schools are volunteering to set up a booth at the STEAM Carnival including three community colleges: Ventura College, Moorpark College and Pierce Community College from Los Angeles County.
“They have had so much fun in the past, Pierce asked if they could come,” Hampton said. “They will be doing polysnow, a powder called sodium polyacrylate that turns fluffy when you add water. Moorpark is doing sodium alginate worms and beads, and Ventura is doing slime and make your own hair gel.
The Science Carnival was held virtually during the pandemic, when Psychology alumna Jocelyn Garcia was a student at CSUCI. Now she’s on the staff helping to organize one of the biggest events on campus.
“This is really the first time we’ve been back, in person, since 2020,” said Garcia, who is now Outreach Coordinator for Project SOAR, which stands for Student Outreach Academics and Retention. “There have been a lot of new students who have entered the pre-K through 8 school system and we believe it has an impact when these students come to a university and can picture themselves there. I think it’s important to introduce them to a college-going culture early.”
Because Rio Vista Middle School was the site of many Science Carnivals in the past, Hampton is delighted that Rio Vista kids will be bussed to the carnival and will have an opportunity to have lunch in the campus’ cafeteria.
Hampton also wanted to give a shout out to Assistant Professor of Biology Rudolf von May, an expert in snakes and other reptiles, Laboratory Safety Officer Bryan Swig, STEM Educational Outreach Director Sandra Birmingham, and STEM Transfer Outreach Coordinator Tatiana Juarez, who all helped make the carnival possible.
The STEAM Carnival will be held on Saturday, March 9 from 2 to 5 p.m. at CSUCI’s Central Mall area. Admission is free and there is free parking in lot A3 on the campus. To learn more, visit the CSUCI STEAM Carnival website.
The STEAM Carnival is funded through CSUCI’s Instructionally Related Activies or IRA.
The University encourages persons with disabilities to participate in its programs, events and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation, or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact the respective area below as soon as possible, but no later than seven (7) business days prior to the event/activity:
CSUCI Students
accommodations@csuci.edu
CSUCI Employees and Members of the Public
angela.portillo@csuci.edu