Parks and rec manager plans fun-filled Science Week

April 23, 2004

Keeping Oakley's youth entertained isn't an easy task, but the city's parks and recreation manager, Nancy Kaiser, is giving it her best shot. In checking out other city park and recreation departments it has become evident that Kaiser has been working on some innovative ideas for Oakley. One of those ideas has been the city's successful Science Week.

The program started three years ago and has been building ever since and this year is no exception. As a matter of fact, according to Kaiser, this year is even bigger and better than ever. She has added several new activities and also brought in several new partners, including Los Medanos College, Oakley Water Program and the Contra Costa Library.

Oakley Science week begins April 30 with the Freedom High School Science and Technology Fair. "We got lucky this year that their event coincided with ours," Kaiser said. The Science and Technology Fair takes place in the high school gym from 6 to 9 p.m. The event includes displayed projects from Freedom students as well as keynote speakers. While older kids will love to check out the projects of their peers, kids of all ages will find the displays of interest.

The week moves on when Saturday morning brings a Community Science Fair to O'Hara Park Middle School. This event will include science games and activities for kids of all ages. Even though this activity is happening at the middle school, Kaiser said there are activities for all ages. The event will be taking place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. O'Hara Park students will be making presentations at 1:30 p.m.

Dow Chemical chemist Kent Campbell will be back again this year to show kids how chemistry can be fun. The presentation is expected to be at Oakley School on Monday, May 3, at 3:30 p.m. One of the nice things about this program is that this year the activities will take place after school and on the weekend, where as in the past the city has tried to run the program during spring break, which found some kids on vacation and others still on track and unable to attend.

Tuesday, May 4, the science week will have an evening presentation for the whole family called Science in Your World, which will be presented by Explorit. Kaiser said the evening's activities run from 6:30 to 8 p.m. and will include hands-on discoveries that will delight even the youngest observers, as well as the oldest.

Science in Your Backyard on Wednesday, May 5, will give a chance for people who haven't yet explored the Ironhouse Trail in a night hike the chance to observe the wildlife in a guided tour with the East Bay Regional Park District officials.

On Thursday, children will be able to celebrate the world of Magnetism at Laurel School at 3:30 p.m., a fun event sponsored by USS-POSCO, and then head over to Delta Vista Middle School to meet the local astronomy clubs which will host craft activities provided by the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse.

Keep in mind if you have participated in the Oakley Science Week before, not only have the dates been changed but so have the sites where the activities are held. Instead of attending the Planetarium Show at O'Hara Park this year the city is working with Los Medanos College and the activity will take place at their site Friday, May 7, at 8 p.m. The event will include exploring Mauna Kea. Don't forget to bring your Oakley ID. This event as well as all the others are free to Oakley Residents.

Ocean Commotion sponsored by the new Oakley Clean Water program will host a musical presentation about the appreciation of Aquatic environments on Saturday, May 8, at 10 a.m. at the Oakley Library. And from there families can attend the Community Kite Festival at Laurel Fields where you can build a kite or bring one of your own to fly at 2 p.m.

The week concludes at the Lindsay Wildlife Museum in Walnut Creek when they offer free admission for the whole family Sunday, May 9, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information on the city's Science week contact the City at 925-625-2000.

Roni Gehlke's column on life in Oakley appears each week in the Brentwood News.

Distributed by the Contra Costa Times

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