Scholarship fund for kids' educational camp honors BCM professor
Looking for fun and educational summer activities for your kids?
The Discovery Camps at The Health Museum in Houston offer not only a variety of kid- and parent-appealing programs, but also scholarships to finance the cost for families who demonstrate need.
Scholars fund
The board of directors of the Health Museum has established the Dr. Kenneth L. Mattox Discovery Scholars Fund in honor of Dr. Mattox, a Distinguished Service Professor of the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine.
For the last three years, Dr. Mattox has served as the chair of the museum board of directors. When his term expired, the board established the fund in recognition of his dedication and support.
Dr. Mattox has already opened the doors of his lab to children attending Discovery Camps.
He believes the scholarship fund is important because it promotes “education, encouraging people at a young age to experience the excitement of learning and the rewards of the struggles associated with discoveries.”
The experience “enables the learner by creating new and exciting ways of seeing and appreciating what was always there.”
For the managers, the fund is important because it allows them “to be free to structure these stimulants separate from the ever-challenging tasks of raising money to support ongoing educational programs,” said Dr. Mattox.
Discovery Camp experience
The Discovery Camps have activities for children between 5 and 13 years old. For 5-7 year old kids, attending a Teddy Bear Clinic or playing Medical Detective, learning to take fingerprints might be a dream come true.
If your child is 8-10 years old, then learning in Camp Grossology facts such as the record for projectile vomit – 27 feet! – might make their day. Budding detectives will be engaged by learning about blood typing, fingerprint analysis and dental forensics to solve a crime scene.
For older kids who are interested in biology, dissections, health and medicine, Mini Medical School sessions give campers a full doctor’s experience, in which they view real human organs, perform hands-on animal dissections, meet healthcare professionals, and visit institutions within the Texas Medical Center.
The Dr. Kenneth L. Mattox Discovery Scholars Fund opens the door to the Discovery Camps for children who otherwise might not have this opportunity.
To these children, Dr. Mattox said, “A world of challenges awaits you, and that armed with a basic curiosity, an appreciation of existing knowledge, and a desire to create new knowledge, you will be uniquely positioned to meet challenges and make a difference in a world that is hungry for new, courageous, and inventive minds.”
See details about the Discovery Camps.
-Ana María Rodríguez, Sr. Medical Editor, Surgery
