iSpark begins drive to empower Saudi teenagers

The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture launched iSpark at SciTech yesterday in an attempt to expand the scientific educational mission provided through the program.
iSpark is a unique edutainment experience that engages the students in world-class science, technology, engineering and science (STEM) training sessions. The program is one of the educational outreach programs that are conducted by iThra Youth at King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, a Saudi Aramco initiative that aims to enrich two million Saudi youth by 2020.
In the Eastern Province, iSpark recently reached more than 5,500 teenagers with 100,000 enriching hours. The iSpark experience consists of four tracks that the applicants can choose from: Green City, Powering the World, Decoding Life and Bridges.
The training sessions are facilitated by professionals trained by experts from Lawrence Hall of Science, in California University in Berkeley, CA and local educational entities. Students are immersed in hands-on experiments that simplify scientific concepts to them in a fun and engaging student-centered learning environment that concentrate on a spectrum of social and character building skills through group work and problem-solving derived strategic thinking. Working towards achieving the mission of the King Abdulaziz Center, which is shifting the Saudi society to a knowledge-based society, iThra Youth initiative is keen on providing and expanding educational opportunities that empowers Saudi youth.
“Saudi Aramco is actively serving the Saudi Society in making the difference by targeting the youth. It promotes STEM education via a wide range of outreach programs. The one-week-long iSpark program will be conducted in SciTech facilities starting from Saturday and will continue to be delivered in one-selected week of each of the four upcoming months,” said Program Coordinator Abdullah Al-Juwiber.
Program Manager Shireen Abdulrahman said iSpark influenced thousands of students in the Eastern Province so far, and with it being held at Scitech, it will definitely make it more accessible to a larger group of participants since it is taking place in the evening from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Registration to the program will be accessible through Scitech website: http://scitech.sa/ar/ispark.php .