On Thursday morning NBA icon Kareem Abdul-Jabbar celebrated tens years of partnership between the Los Angeles Unified School District and his non-profit organization the Skyhook Foundation, which brings outdoor STEAM (Science Technology Engineering the Arts and Mathematics) educational opportunities to underserved children.
The celebration took place at Camp Skyhook at Sky Creek, the foundation’s flagship program which offers five-day summer camps to students in the 4th and 5th grades. For many students attending the camp in the Angeles National Forest, it is their first experience leaving urban neighborhoods and being fully immersed in nature.
To commemorate the ten year partnership, Abdul-Jabbar presented the district with a check for $100,000 to continue supporting these popular summer camp programs. Several LAUSD students were invited and were all smiles as they got to meet Abdul-Jabbar surrounded by pine trees and sunshine at the camp’s serene headquarters.
The camp’s educational curriculum was designed by UCLA and NASA-Armstrong Flight Research Center and allows nature to become the classroom as students participate in hands on STEAM activities over the course of five days and four nights. This program is part of the district’s commitment to teach environmental and climate literacy to all students and to encourage students of all backgrounds to pursue careers in STEAM fields.
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