“The Wiz Kid” hosts Angelica Peterson (right) and Kevin Samuelson film a video at the CSU Spar Campus in Denver on Friday, April 19, 2024. CSU Spar is launching a new children's science education program, “Whiz Kid,” on YouTube. The hope is to provide accessible science education to young people. (Photo courtesy of Hyoung Chang/Denver Post)
Angelica Peterson wears a dazzling white coat, Converse sneakers, and glasses to create an engaging children's educational program that answers the question, “What happens when hipsters wear safety glasses?” He had bespectacled eyes.
Peterson's Taylor Swift-style friendship bracelet, which featured a silver microscope charm dangling from her Taylor Swift-style friendship bracelet, featured her stage name “Wiz Kid,” during a photo shoot Friday at Colorado State University's Denver Spar Campus. was spelled out.
For Wiz Kid and her team of CSU employees, all the world is a stage.
This month, the university launched a new YouTube series named after the character, based at its Spur campus near the National Western Complex. In this series, Wiz Kid explores our free, interactive education center and asks in-house experts and researchers questions about kid-friendly topics.
In one episode, Wiz Kid interviewed a CSU horticulturist to learn about plants. In another article, she demonstrated her home chemistry experiments. In yet another article, she highlighted the science behind the production of bread, butter, and cheese.
CSU President Tony Frank said, “What Spur is trying to do at its core is reach out to young people early in life, inspire them, show them role models, and make sure that college is not the place for them.'' It's about getting over the story of what might be.” “Wiz Kid is a perfect little microcosm of that philosophy.”
The goal is to create accessible, educational content that can be viewed by anyone with an Internet connection, whether it's a child in a classroom in Colorado or learners around the world, said Peterson, whose day job is a digital media specialist at CSU. The idea is to create a program for children.
“We're looking all over the United States and even around the world,” she said.
Channeling Bill Nye the Science Guy and “with the energy of an Elus tour,” Peterson is proud to have premiered the first six-episode season of his YouTube show, and is excited to announce that he will be sharing videos, social media, and We're promising more shenanigans in person at live events.
“Science doesn’t have to be stuffy,” she said.
Make science more accessible
“Wiz Kid” took about a year to create, said Tiana Kennedy, CSU's vice president of public affairs, and the program grew out of a desire to personify CSU Spur's focus on food, water and health. It is said that he was born.
The three buildings on the Supercampus (Vida, Terra, and Hydro) are filled with free activities for kids, including a glass-enclosed veterinary hospital where families can watch live surgeries and visit a rooftop greenhouse.
The campus is the ideal playground for Wiz Kid, whose fun and quirky personality comes to life in front of the camera.
Last week, Peterson walked past the Spur building while filming social media content for Earth Day, brandishing a banana peel and talking about composting.
The content is aimed at elementary school to junior high school students.
Ms. Peterson felt that this era was prescient, and in her fourth grade project she wrote that she wanted to be an actress and a scientist.
“I'm making young Angelica's dreams come true,” Peterson said. “The stars aligned and my career allowed me to not only use my skills as an editor and videographer, but also to be in front of the camera. I feel really lucky to be able to do this as a career. Masu.”
As the CSU team was exploring ideas for children's programming, they found an eager volunteer in Peterson, and the project snowballed from there.
The staff is small, with CSU videographers, graphics editors, social media editors, and Peterson focusing on the script and collaborating with experts behind the scenes and in front of the camera.
To get inside Wiz Kid's head, Peterson watches Nye and laughs at the segment “Silly Songs with Larry” from the children's show “Veggie Tales” that made her laugh as a child. .
Peterson is also inspired by Food Network personality Alton Brown's show “Good Eats,” which explored the science behind food in a fun and approachable way.
“The other thing is, we wanted to get more girls interested in science, so why not have a female face as the host?” Peterson said. “The main driver is to make science accessible to students, but also to make it inclusive. When it comes to jobs and career exploration, we want our viewers to see people who look like them. I want you to.”
Wizkid's future
The future is bright for Wizkid.
CSU is working on more episodes, but Kennedy said the school also wants to create programming based on student needs.
Kennedy said the university is aligning the show's themes with Colorado's education curriculum and developing worksheets and materials that teachers can distribute to students for corresponding lessons.
The show's producers would like to subtitle the episodes in Spanish to meet the needs of English learners.
Although they are exploring streaming opportunities, Kennedy said they want to ensure that content is always accessible and open access.
“'Wiz Kid' gives kids an opportunity to listen to scientists and researchers, ask serious questions, and spark their curiosity,” Kennedy said. “If they learn and work on things like that at a young age, and learn about the possibility of becoming researchers, and see researchers who look like them, it opens up their passion for education, and that's what we do. Everything about “This is my true self.” “
Wiz Kid is also ramping up its live events, including “Wiz Kid Live” on May 11th from 10:30 a.m. to noon. Wiz Kid meets the kids at his CSU Spur, takes photos, and screens the pilot episode with popcorn and candy bars. Registration is free.
“My favorite part is meeting the kids in person,” Peterson said. “They teach me a lot. Wizkid always learns with them.”
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