WEP 2020 Welcomes Record Number of School Visitors

The KAUST 2020 Winter Enrichment Program (WEP) welcomed the largest number of school visitors since the program began.  Over four days, more than 400 students from schools in Jeddah, Thuwal and Qadimah attended workshops, lectures, shows and community events, all tied in with this year's theme, Personalized Medicine.  Social Responsibility organizes visits to WEP as part of its Young Learners Development Program (YLDP), an ongoing initiative for intermediate and secondary school students with a rolling program of projects across key areas including math and science preparation, technological and digital literacy and English proficiency.

As in previous years, Social Responsibility worked with departments around KAUST to introduce their function and equipment to our visiting students.   This year the Prototyping Core Lab (PCL), located in the University’s Innovation Cluster, gave detailed tours of their facility to our visiting students.  Tamer Shahin, lead of the PCL and Yasser Al Omrani, PCL technician, explained each the myriad pieces of machinery available to use in the Lab.   The students were able to see 3D printers in action, laser cutters and computer numerical machines alongside the seemingly low-tech and traditional but still essential woodworking tools, lathes and even a kiln for ceramics.  Al-Omrani explained that they make items that enable scientists to include in their research experiments but the labs are open to anyone, whether at KAUST or not, “Any user can book time to use the Lab – we provide training and safety equipment and even materials if necessary are supplied at cost.”  

A cornerstone of WEP each year is the Science Fair.  Comprising over 80 booths, this year it included nine booths from In Kingdom Schools and Universities, three of which were from Thuwal High School students (Click here to read about the Thuwal High School students’ exciting achievements at the Fair!).  275 Thuwal & Qadimah elementary & middle school students explored the Fair, guided by volunteers from The KAUST School and YLDP alumni.   Enjoy a taster of the day here.

Additional activities included KAUST graduate students Sakhaa and Sevtr delivering coding and robotics sessions, a continuation from Summer Camp activities and a tour of the Museum of Science and Technology in Islam, delivered by the knowledgeable MOSTI team.  The KAUST Color Fun Run welcomed guests from the Thuwal community and the bowling activity for the high school students proved to be an energetic interlude between a Digital Health seminar and possibly the ultimate highlight - the explosive, interactive and very funny science show from  Dr Bunhead.  

Thank you to the Enrichment Team for curating another outstanding WEP.  Thank you to all our volunteers for their support, including students Esraa, Jaya, Jawaher, Firas, Abdulrahman, Layal, Stephen, Hiba, Xarlasht and teachers Catherine, Francois and Rodrigo from The KAUST School; Vera for all her work on the Science Fair; Nouf and Samar, our YLDP volunteers from Thuwal; and, Sakhaa and Sevtr from Medvation at KAUST.

      

Part of the Young Learners' Development Program - read the Program Overview here

KAUST Social Responsibility is dedicated to advancing the KAUST mission of being a good neighbor and responsible citizen, and ensuring that intellectual and social capital is used to sustainably improve quality of life in our neighboring communities. The YLDP aims to help the next generation of Thuwal students reach their full potential by developing skills in English, STEM, digital literacy, soft skills, and environmental awareness.

January 20, 2020