There are many different science activities that students can participate in at Providence Academy.
Whether it is part of the required curriculum or extracurricular, they provide good experience in the science field. But none of these actually provide new information to the field itself, except for SARP.
SARP, or Soil Application Research Program, is an extracurricular activity that is meant for testing different kinds of products on soil to see what it does to plants.
Or, as Dr. Yvonne Boldt, head of the program, states, the program is for, “testing the effectiveness of different kinds of soil amendments”
Right now, they are testing the effectiveness of compost, woodchips, fertilizers, and a new product called Precision Organics Test Product. But the unique part of this program is that they actually add some of their information to the science field. The students do their own research on new things that have not been tested on before and get to make their own discoveries.
Again, Dr. Boldt stated how this is important because doing research is what, “doing science really is”.
This program is held in the school year and during the summer. For a student to join, he/she must be in 9th grade or up, and have at least graduated from 9th to participate in the summer program. To actually join, students put their name and email on the list for SARP at the club fair. Then their email will be put on Dr. Boldt’s mail list and will send the students the registration forms. For summer, there are forms made and passed out to register.
So, in conclusion, SARP is an innovative science program that gives students a lot of experience through having to do research and contributing to the science field itself. This program is designed to help develop students academically and teach the scientists of tomorrow.