New Kensington Science Project works on moving to new home in the city

Nicole Roberts is all about giving children from New Kensington and Arnold science and technology experiences so they don’t fall behind peers from wealthier communities.

“They can do anything. They need to know they can,” Roberts said this week, while a group of children in third through seventh grades were attending the third day of a two-week “Summer of STEM 2024” program.

The New Kensington Science Project is based out of two rooms at the Salvation Army building in New Kensington, after outgrowing space it was using for a year at the Digital Foundry on Fifth Avenue. And it’s outgrowing its current space, as well.

“We needed more space and more time,” Roberts said.

The project is working on a lease to move into the current Social Security Administration offices near the Digital Foundry. The Social Security offices are moving to Heights Plaza in Harrison.

The building, also home to The Corner entrepreneurial center, is owned by the Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corp.

The Social Security Administration’s lease will end Aug. 30, said Alicia Henry, marketing director for the IDC. While they have a letter of intent from R&D Impact, she could not comment further about the science project because they have not yet signed a lease.

The New Kensington Social Security office will close at noon Friday, a government spokesperson said. It will relocate to Heights Plaza on Monday.

Roberts retired as principal of New Kensington- Arnold’s H.D. Berkey Elementary School in Arnold last year. The New Kensington Science Project is sponsored by R&D Impact Foundation, which is headed by her brother, Thomas Roberts Jr., and his wife, Susan DaSilva.

After beginning its efforts in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco, R&D is now focusing its operations primarily in New Kensington, Roberts said.

“We’re planning on being in New Kensington long term,” Roberts said. “We want to make a difference. We want to make a change in the community through STEM. We want to help children create pathways for different opportunities after they’re done with school.”

What the space will include

While still negotiating the lease, the project already had an architect design its space at the former Social Security office. Roberts said they hope to be up and running there by spring or next summer.

It will include general classrooms, a fabrication lab, tinker space, wellness center and wet lab. A kitchen is included, as the project also will feed children across all grade levels that come to its programs, which are offered at no cost to families.

“There’s so much coming out so fast. We want to make sure our kids have access to that,” Roberts said.

Teachers will be welcome to come and see what’s happening there, she said.

Once in the new space, the project’s name is likely to change.

“We want to be bigger than New Kensington Science,” Roberts said.

Roberts said about 100 children participated in its programs at the Digital Foundry last year. That included an eight-week program where elementary students turned cardboard boxes into robotic animals with sensors, lights and motors.

About 45 children from New Kensington and Arnold were attending the project’s first summer camp, which began Monday and runs through the end of next week.

They were doing things such as designing and constructing buildings to test against simulated earthquakes and designing and building toy cars that they then sought to improve so they’d roll farther.

On Wednesday, they were designing and assembling dinosaur skeletons. Laser cutters were used to create the skeleton pieces.

Some recreated actual dinosaur skeletons, while others opted for their own creations by combining pieces from different types of dinosaurs.

Instructors from the Carnegie Science Center’s mobile “Fab Lab” helped. They brought the equipment, including laser cutters, vinyl cutters and 3D printers.

They found many of the children had not been exposed to the technology. That was expected because exposing kids to STEM concepts is the point of the program, said Steve Luciano, a technical and education manager with the Fab Lab.

“We’re empowering them,” he said.

Spots for this summer camp filled within 48 hours, Roberts said. More activities are planned for August and September.

Families can get information on those by contacting Roberts by email at nroberts@rdimpact.org.

After getting started in New Kensington, Roberts said, it’s possible more locations could follow.

“You have to do something really well first and see how it works,” she said.