Individual Student Programs
If you are a parent, homeschool teacher, have a child who wants extra science learning…Don’t worry! Challenger Learning Center of Alaska has options for you too! We have programs for local Kenai Peninsula residents and virtual programs for ALL Alaskans!
Challenger Learning Center of Alaska continues to develop programs that help parents meet the needs of their students in an ever-changing world. Our hands-on approach strengthens knowledge in STEM subjects and inspires students to pursue careers in these important fields. Curriculum also aligns with state standards and grade-level expectations. We are a direct payment vendor for most homeschool affiliations and you can apply our program hours to your students’ semester credits.
Programs are offered throughout the year, with changing themes. Make sure to check back to keep up to date with new offerings. If you cannot make a scheduled open enrollment program, you can also create your own group and call us to schedule a custom program for you, virtual or in-house! We have STEM workshops, Classroom Adventures, virtual workshops, simulated missions, and virtual missions. Head over to our schools & groups program page to see possible options. Ask us or your homeschool representative to help you get a group together.
Pick a Program to see details:
Classes Designed for Home Learners
Worried about teaching science?  Let Challenger teach it for you! Our STEAM Ahead (science, technology, engineering, aviation, and math) program is an in-center homeschool program that covers various age grades.Â
CLCA’s STEAM Ahead program is created exclusively for home learners as an in-center program. Students learn facts and methods of thinking that can be applied to solve real-world problems. STEM creates critical thinking, bridges the gender gap in leadership roles, increases science literacy, and enables the next generations of innovators.
Thank you for your continued support in letting Challenger be a part of your child’s learning experience! The curriculum aligns with state standards and grade-level expectations. This means you can apply our program hours to your students’ semester credits! Programs are offered throughout the year, with changing themes. Also, check the tabs to the left to see different program options including virtual!
***We are a direct pay vendor of a majority of homeschool vendors like Connections and IDEA, if paying through this method, turn your VDP form into your homeschool ASAP
STEAM AHEAD - Spring Semester
“Rock On Alaska!”
There are 6 sessions
$75/ea (5% discount for all 6)
Feb 1 – March 7, 2024 (Thursdays)
Grades: 5 – 7
Time: 1pm – 3pm
Register online
Students will be digging through everything rocks. Throughout the 6 sessions, students will identify different rocks and minerals and learn the characteristics of weathering and chemical changes. Using hands-on activities the students will understand why these changes occur and how it relates to their Alaskan environment.
“Kitchen Chemistry”
There are 6 sessions
$68/ea (5% discount for all 6)
Feb 1 – March 7, 2024 (Thursdays)
Grades: 2 – 4
Time: 1pm – 3pm
Register online
Students will be experimenting with kitchen Chemistry! Through interactive lessons, students will observe the chemical changes through the heat, color, bubbles (gas), sounds, and smells of food experimentations.
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For VDP Payments: We are a direct pay vendor for most homeschools. If you choose this method, it is important you fill out your homeschool’s VDP form and turn it in to us and your representative right away for approval. If you are paying with your Allotment-payment is not due at the time of booking through the online system but you need to send us your VDP form. If your VDP is late or not approved you are responsible for full payment. During check out select Option: “Pay a deposit now, $0”.Â
If you have questions please give us a call or email our admin at cassie.carversavok@akchallenger.org
Payment Info: We have an online booking system to create a smoother process for our customers. You can create a profile that will easily store your family’s information for faster booking next time! This system also allows us to check your child in and out virtually, with access to your approved pickup contacts, additional forms, and medical information. Â
Parents and Homeschool Families
Looking for more options to teach their kids science at home? Challenger is now offering Virtual Programs you can access right from home! Look for new sessions with different topics throughout the year. Each session focuses on engaging students and reinforcing STEM concepts being taught in the classroom. Topics will range from ecosystems, robotics, space science, properties of matter, energy and much more!
Each program is guided or taught by a Challenger Flight Director over a virtual platform with other students.
Virtual Missions: Dates and Age Groups
DESTINATION MARS
Grades 3-6
March 15, 2022 @Â 1pm – 2pm
*Space is limited*
$25/student
Researchers are ready to explore Mars,
but there’s one glaring problem – more
than 40 million miles separate Earth from
Mars. Students will go on a mission to
analyze data and determine which of the
Red Planet’s moons is the best location
for building a research base.
DESTINATION MOON
Grades 7-8
March 16, 2022 @ 12:30pm – 2pm
*Space is limited*
$40/student
A team of researchers is ready to return to the Moon to explore its surface and establish a second habitat for astronauts to live and work! To get there, they’ll launch and fly Blue origin’s reusable launch vehicle, New Glenn, and explore the Moon’s surface using Blue Origin’s lunar lander, Blue Moon.
Program Videos head to our YouTube
Virtual Workshops: Dates and Age Groups
Each workshop is a 1 1/2 hour Zoom session, on call with a Challenger Flight Director, and other students.
Program materials will be provided and shipped or picked up from the center if you are local.
Grades 3-5
January 21, 2021
Stability, 9:30am -11am
*Enrollment Deadline- Noon Jan 6*
$50 + Shipping
One day- Explore the forces that affect stability in the water. Use your math skills to calculate a route across a body of water, determine weight requirements, and build a vessel that will carry your precious cargo to its new home.
February 16, 2021
Our Solar System, 9:00am -10:30am
*Enrollment Deadline- Jan 31*
$50 + Shipping
Grades 6-8
January 18, 2021
Oil Spill Clean Up, 9:30am -11am
*Enrollment Deadline- Noon Jan 6*
$50 + Shipping
One day- Explore the effects of Oil Spills on our environment. Work with teammates as Environmental Engineers to develop a containment and recovery system with the materials at hand.
February 16, 2021
Navigating By The Stars, 11:00am -12:30pm
*Enrollment Deadline- Jan 31*
$50 + Shipping
This material is based in part upon work supported by NASA through the Alaska Space Grant program (80NSSC20M0070).
Additional dates may be added through out the school year and themes are subject to change. Please contact us if you need further information.
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     From Alaska to Bermuda
     STEM Academies
Starting in 2019, Challenger Learning Center of Alaska has enjoyed working with the Bermuda Ministry of Home Affairs to conduct multiple summer STEM Academies with students from Bermuda and Alaska together! In previous years Challenger has gone to Bermuda to deliver the camp and held it virtually, to middle school students. This program allows Challenger the opportunity to expand our mission to include other cultures in educating the workforce of tomorrow through a stimulating, hands-on, STEM curriculum.
The potential for this program is continually developing for the future, with a cultural exchange aspect that integrates Alaska and Bermuda students. The collaboration would not only allow Bermuda and Alaskan students an opportunity to build on each other ideas but to share cultural and environmental experiences. Project topics range from navigation and stability, motion and energy, cultural comparisons, coding, space, astronomy, meteorology, and more!
Summer 2020, Challenger received an Arthur C. Clark Award for Innovation in Education for the virtual Alaska meets Bermuda camp. To read more visit the press release here.Â
Please pay attention to the deadline to enter.
A committee will review the entries and make selections within two days after the deadline.
Accepted applicants will be notified by phone and email.
No Dates Available at This Time
Explore the wonders of physics, navigation, engineering, and astronomy right from your homes! During this week, Alaskan and Bermudian students will work together via ZOOM with a Challenger Flight Director. Camps will be 5 days long with classes 4 hours each day, including instructor time, team project time, presentations, and downtime to talk to the other students. The curriculum theme will focus on the latest NASA drive to establish a permanent, manned research station on the Moon, and to expand mankind’s presence to Mars and beyond. Hands-on projects students will be making involves revealing and solving challenges in colonizing other planets and continued deep-space exploration. Guest speakers from NASA will also make appearances throughout the week! All materials needed to make the assignments will be provided. Alaska students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade and Bermuda students in M1, M2, and M3.
Bermudians: Bermuda Department of Energy is offering full scholarships to 8 Bermuda Students.
Alaskans: Contact Us
Students will submit a video introducing themselves and explaining their interest in the camp. They must articulate in a creative, passionate way, why they should be chosen to attend the camp, their desire to participate, and their commitment to completing the work. Videos should be kept to two minutes and students must clearly state their name and if they are from Alaska or Bermuda at the beginning of their video. Videos can be shot with a phone, tablet, computer, or camera. Entries need to be uploaded with the link provided in the application form below. Â
Camps have limited space and approvals are based on a Video submission entry preferred, or a written statement from the student in the comments section. Fill Out a registration form for each child you wish to enter into the camp. You will be asked to specify the date you prefer in your application below. A detailed packet will be emailed to you regarding confirmation, instructions, and camp details. **By filling out this form it is not guaranteeing your child a spot in the camp.
Registration Not Currently Open
Challenger Learning Center of Alaska
855-477-7926
Administrator: cooper.kelley@akchallenger.org
Bermuda Ministry of Home Affairs
Jeane Nikolai
jnikolai@gov.bm
