A vision for the future

Growing up in the Capri Road community in Etobicoke, Eugenia Addy was always a curious child. She loved to experiment with things around the house to see how things worked. She also had a large appetite for science-related books, TV shows, and programs.

“The opportunity to explore science outside of school was really important for me,” Eugenia said. “From an early age, science wasn’t really about a subject I had to take, but it was more about this incredible world I could discover. Like many kids, I had many questions about how the world works. I felt like science was an opportunity to get answers.”

Today, Eugenia has a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Toronto. She is also the Chief Executive Officer of Visions of Science. It is an organization based in Regent Park that provides free STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) programming to youth from low-income communities.

Eugenia was a graduate student when the idea of community involvement first came to her. “I started thinking to myself ‘What’s going on in the city in terms of science programming and the community?’, and I couldn’t think of anything,” she said. “I decided if someone hadn’t made anything yet, then I would.”

Opportunity knocked during Eugenia’s first year of her Ph.D. program. Visions of Science had visited the Toronto Metropolitan University campus, and she met with the Executive Director who wanted to improve youth outreach and attendance. This was a subject Eugenia knew a lot about. In addition to being a tenant, she had been a youth programmer with TCHC.

“Unless you’ve grown up in a TCHC community or worked in one, it’s very hard to build connections,” she said. “You can’t expect people to come to your program just because you showed up.

"You need to actively participate in the community and build relationships.”

Impressed by Eugenia’s knowledge of community programming, the Executive Director told her that “you’re going to end up running this organization one day.” Shortly after, she joined Visions of Science as a volunteer. Within a year she had moved into a leadership role, just as the Executive Director predicted.

These days, Eugenia is actively building relationships by attending community events and knocking on doors to meet tenants in their building. Under her leadership, the organization has continued to improve its programming and outreach. To date, Visions of Science has impacted and engaged over 30 communities and more than 19,000 young people (about 3,000 annually) across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).

Visions of Science tries to be visible to youth by maintaining a presence in other community programs that aren’t necessarily focused on STEM. Eugenia talks about having workshops in Rookie League, TCHC’s summer-long day camp for kids, as an example.

“There’s always programming you need to develop to fill their day,” she said. “So that’s the perfect opportunity to expose them to science.” According to Eugenia this kind of outreach is critically important. STEM skills are mostly only taught to youth in a classroom setting. If they don’t have a great teacher, it risks turning them off from science as a potential career path.

Currently, Visions of Science has two main programs (which branch out into several sub-programs). STEM Catalyst is focused on engaging and building confidence in youth through workshops and programs to ignite that “spark.” STEM Journey is focused on nurturing that spark and supporting youth at every stage of their academic career.

In the future, Eugenia hopes to add more programming and reach out to even more communities. She also wants to make the organization more sustainable. “Growing up and working in TCHC, I really hated seeing awesome programs come and go,” she said. “I never want that for Visions of Science.

"The program requires a lot of work and investment, and I want us to be positioned in a way that we can be a permanent institution.”

Eugenia also has some advice for TCHC youth who have an interest in science and want to explore it. “There will be a lot of opportunities that come your way, like a flyer or an email talking about science programming. Take advantage of those and get involved. Be open to forging new connections. Those are things that helped me.”

To learn more about Visions of Science and their STEM programs, you can visit their website, email them at connect@vosnl.org or call them at 416-366-4774.