January - Our Story

Destination Exploration through the ages 2002 – 2022!

What a wild ride the past 20 years have been, and the DE team can’t wait for what the next 20 years will bring. Here is a closer look at how Destination Exploration has grown into the program you know today.

Destination Exploration started as an opportunity to provide elementary and junior high students in southern Alberta with unique learning experiences as part of a new program initiative entitled “Destination Exploration.” In the first year, DE comprised itself of two educational residential programs: Science Sizzle and Cyberspace Concepts. These programs were geared towards students in Grades 6, 7 and 8 and offered interactive, educational, and social activities that promoted the sciences, computer technology, teamwork, leadership, and recreation in an integrated environment.

“The goals when we first created Destination Exploration were for youth to have fun learning about different disciplines while attending a University campus, and understanding that the University of Lethbridge supports learning for all ages. It is fantastic to see how Destination Exploration has expanded over the years, keeping true to the original concept of combining fun with learning.”

Heather Mirau, Director, Integrated Planning - Founder of DE

Stemming from the success of these programs, Destination Exploration continued to grow, add more opportunities for students and expanded the age range of participants!

2007 was a huge year of growth and two new camps were introduced to the lineup. DE was now made up of four components: the science day camps (Science Sizzle), the weeklong science camps (Learning Quest), the on-the-road science workshops (Traveling Lab Coats) and the science club (Bunsen & Beaker Science Club). Overall Destination Exploration reached over 990 students that year, an overall increase of 440% from the past year.

2007 was the beginning of the well-loved program The Traveling Lab Coats (TLC) that still visits classrooms today! TLC started as just science workshops for grades K to 8 and visited 19 Grade 1-6 classrooms its first year! Exposing over 550 students to the exciting world of science.

June 28, 2010, marks the day Destination Exploration was privileged to become a member of Actua. Actua is a national charity that is preparing youth, age 6-26, to be innovators and leaders by engaging them in exciting and accessible STEM experiences that build critical employability skills and confidence. Actua’s focus is on helping youth to recognize that they are the leaders today while also bolstering their skills and confidence to become the innovators of tomorrow. As a nationally recognized voice for STEM education and outreach, Actua is a strong advocate for the critical importance of early engagement in STEM. They use that national voice to advocate for increased investment in youth STEM programs and to specifically bring attention to the ongoing underrepresentation of key groups in STEM fields.

Destination Exploration continued to expand its reach to more and more students. In 2012, in partnership with Actua and the Canadian Women’s Foundation, a club just for girls was created! This club provided a space for young girls in grades 6 – 8 to meet other girls who loved science, and a safe space to explore and expand their potential. This club built the confidence of girls in science and encouraged them to continue their studies into high school and beyond.

In 2013 Destination Exploration hired its first permanent Manager of Youth Programs and moved into the Faculty of Arts & Science! This allowed DE to find a permanent home in the Academic side of the house, to work with recruitment to build a pipeline of participants as university students and focussed on programming to build confidence and skills in the young people who participated in the programs.

The focus of DE soon grew beyond just Science and took on a STEM focus. STEM encompasses Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. When the Canada Wide Science Fair was hosted at the University of Lethbridge in 2013, DE was excited to be a part of this big event. Programs continued to grow and evolve to meet the needs of the local Southern Alberta Community. DE visited every classroom at Napi’s Playground Elementary School in Piikani to share STEM workshops with the students and participated in the Treaty 7 Science Fair.

As more unique and specific clubs were offered to the community, DE hired its first full-time permanent Program Coordinator in 2016! Community connections were created, and DE provided opportunities for the Home-school Community to come to campus and experience hands-on, engaging science activities to assist with their curriculum. A gender parity club was created to assist participants in grades 6 – 9 had an opportunity to work on STEM projects in a Co-ed environment that also provided a space to have conversations about access to STEM for all people.

In September 2019 Destination Exploration moved its headquarters into the new Science Commons Building. The dedicated Outreach facility had been built to provide a space for youth to explore and experience STEM within the U of L campus! It contains a classroom for 40, an undergrad teaching lab, much-needed storage space and a dedicated universal washroom! This space was a game-changer for youth outreach and STEM engagement on campus and one of a few facilities like it across Canada. School groups could now have field trips to campus, high school students could experience an undergrad wet lab before heading off to university, and the families in the community could participate in engaging events. Summer camp and clubs no longer interfered with the academic schedule and participants felt like they had a place to belong on campus and a space to grow, learn, explore, and learn STEM!

The Pandemic of 2020 did not stop Destination Exploration, it simply changed the way programming was delivered and how participants interacted with STEM! Virtual clubs and workshops were offered, many activities and experiences were placed online for students to work on at home with their families. Slowly, as times allowed, Destination Exploration opened its space again for in-person activities and have ramped up activities to include summer camps and clubs in person in the Outreach Facility.

Looking back over the last 20 years and how far we have come is overwhelming. The University of Lethbridge has provided so much towards making Destination Exploration the success that it is. The whole DE team is looking forward to continuing their partnership with Actua in the future and expanding programs to meet the ever-changing landscape and future for their participants.