First Baptist Community Development Corporation
Participates in ScienceQuest National Launch

Somerset, NJ - June 20, 2002: Staff from the First Baptist Community Development Corporation (FBCDC) was selected to participate through the Renaissance Education Technology Academy in the national launch of ScienceQuest, a unique after school program funded by the National Science Foundation. This program encourages young people (aged 10-14) to discover and investigate their questions about science and technology. The program’s goal is to foster the next generation of scientists and educators in underserved populations such as minorities, girls, and children with disabilities. Community volunteers and center staff provide youth participants with support, guidance, and mentoring.

ScienceQuest volunteers and center staff are not Nobel Prize winning scientists, nor are they computer experts. They are parents, community members, and after-school staff who have attended an intensive training in Austin, TX. At the training, ScienceQuest volunteers and staff met with colleagues from around the country and learned ideas for leading a youth-centered science inquiry process.

Over the summer and fall, training participants will work with youth in community technology centers to implement ScienceQuest after-school programs. ScienceQuest teams will lead investigations by interviewing community members, conducting research on the Internet, visiting local science institutions, and reading books and journals. ScienceQuest teams will also document their research by utilizing rich resources in the technology lab such as computers, scanners, digital cameras, and software. Teams will showcase their scientific discoveries by building state-of-the-art Web sites. The result will be a 21st century virtual science fair.

Funded in part by the National Science Foundation and supported by the Education Development Center, Inc. in Newton, MA, the ScienceQuest national launch initiative establishes programs in 18 cities across the country. “ScienceQuest brings together what we know works with young adolescents to engage – and sustain – their interest in science. We are already seeing these young people become investigators. They have a passion for their questions and we are happy to help them find the answers!” said Judy Zorfass, Principal Investigator of the project. Pilot tested in Boston, MA, ScienceQuest teams have already explored topics such as Michael Jordan’s “flying” abilities and the digestive track on worms.

Rev. Mereides Delgado, Technology Program Manager of the First Baptist Community Development Corp., explains why ScienceQuest is integral to their after-school programming: “Our middle school-aged kids are at a critical point in their lives where they are looking for activities that are engaging and challenging. We feel that ScienceQuest will utilize our kids’ natural curiosity about the world, and teach them valuable skills in technology.”

The First Baptist Community Development Corporation (FBCDC) is committed to the revitalization and redevelopment of both human and physical capital in the Renaissance Community. Through public and private partnerships, the FBCDC seeks to improve, enhance, empower, build and redevelop the community as a means of promoting self-sufficiency and improving the quality of life of the people who live, work, worship, attend school, or own property or a business in the Renaissance Community. The FBCDC operates the Family Resource Center, which is the core mechanism for addressing the human service component of the Renaissance 2000 community revitalization initiative. The FBCDC offers youth opportunities to enrich and enliven their experience in education. Through the Renaissance Education Technology Academy, the FBCDC offers access to technology to the families currently served by the FBCDC’s Family Resource Center.

The FBCDC was founded in 1992 and incorporated as a nonsectarian not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) organization on February 19, 1993. It was formed to improve the social, educational and economic conditions in the community surrounding the First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens, located on Route 27 in Somerset, New Jersey.

Contacts:
Mereides Delgado
Program Manager, Technology
First Baptist Community Development Corporation
(732) 249-6792

Jennifer Dorsen
ScienceQuest National Program Director
(617) 618-2686