The Spartanburg Science Center, Spartanburg Area Conservancy, and the USC Upstate Foundation joined forces in January of 2021 to offer a comprehensive STEAM program to children in the community. ‘Seeing Through Their Eyes’ offered students ages 3-18 an opportunity to learn about and document the nature they saw around them during the pandemic, with the goal of keeping kids engaged, off screens, outdoors and educated during the winter months.
Thanks to the generosity of the Spartanburg County Foundation, the Mary Black Foundation, the USC Upstate Foundation, the EMK Foundation and the City of Spartanburg, the program provided 325 take home kits with a disposable camera, a nature guide to direct the photos, and suggested activities. The guide led kids down the Cottonwood Trail, to the animal room in the Science Center, and to the USC Upstate Arboretum to photograph local plants and animals, learn about patterns in nature, and more.