2025-04-21T17:18:38-07:00 2024-12-31 990EZ 2024-01-01 844106067 THE SCIENCE VORTEX OF VERDE VALLEY SCIE 9282257830 725 S Cedar Ridge Ct Cornville AZ 86325 Lauren Altringer Director 9282257830 2025-04-21 1 2024 2025-03-06 01:10:19Z X www.sciencevortex.org X X 170582 X 91087 78701 0 794 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 170582 0 0 88236 1500 4600 800 51485 146621 23961 57866 0 81827 57866 81827 0 0 0 0 57866 81827 0 0 57866 81827 The Science Vortex provides STEM+art (STEAM) education to families. Our mission is to positively impact children's critical-thinking abilities, creativity, and STEM literacy. Our center is committed to achieving these goals by providing hands-on, interactive exhibits, enticing learning materials, and engaging programs for children ages 2-12. We strive to create an environment where children are drawn into a vortex of play, perseverance, collaboration, and innovation! In 2024, over 370 children attended STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, math) summer camp at the Science Vortex in May, June and July. Camp themes included: Junior Botanists' Camp, Crazy Tech Camp, Animal Detectives Zoology Camp, Junior Engineers Camp, Ocean Exploration Camp w/ Arizona Science Center, Future Innovators' Coding Camp, and COCSD Camp Innovation. Grant money was used to offer discounts to families in need. 1000 45000 In 2024, there were 1,276 visits to Little Learners STEAM Time and 550 visits to Makerspace Family Night; both are programs that are free-of-cost to the public and occur weekly. 5000 10000 In 2024, there were 2,123 students who attended field trip visits (92 visits total) to the Science Vortex to learn topics related to STEAM. Students came from Cottonwood, Camp Verde, Cornville, Clarkdale, Sedona, and Beaver Creek schools. 9000 14000 Weekend Hours for the Public: The Science Vortex is an ASTC (Association of Science and Technology Centers) site open to the public every Saturday and Sunday, 10AM to 1PM. In 2024, 591 visitors came to open weekend hours. Grant funds have been used to develop new stations and signage (gravity well, Lego wall, new metal signs that replaced hand-painted ones in disrepair). 11000 15000 Chief Science Officers: In 2024, the Science Vortex advised 15 middle and high-school students throughout the school year to serve as STEM ambassadors in the Verde Valley community. This program is spearheaded by the SciTech Institute in Phoenix. The Science Vortex CSO team was awarded Arizona CSO Team of the Year for the second time in a row in 2024. 6430 13130 Community Outreach: The Science Vortex engages in community outreach at a variety of community events including library visits, school visits, after school clubs, Dark Sky parties, and more. In 2024, the Science Vortex led 12 library workshops that served a total of 129 people and attended 7 community events with booth activities that impacted about 800 people. 3000 5000 School Visits: In 2024, Science Vortex led 58 STEAM lessons in preK-8th classrooms impacting 1,896 students. 6000 8000 Afterschool Clubs: 25 after school STEAM sessions with elementary students took place in 2024 in Cottonwood, Cornville, and Sedona. 1000 3000 Verde Valley SciTech Festival: The Science Vortex leads the annual regional SciTech Festival. In February 2024, 1,522 people participated in the Verde Valley-wide festival with 197 attending the Kickoff Event at the Science Vortex. 5400 5400 Verde Valley STEAM Mobile/Camp Verde STEAM Initiative: A big project in 2024 was expanding STEM education east of the I-17, particularly with Camp Verde Elementary School and at Camp Verde Community Library. This project will continue into 2025 with grant funds received in 2024. 25000 17584 Verde Valley BioBlitz: In 2024, seventeen fifth grade classes in the Verde Valley participated in the annual bioblitz (a community science project done in partnership with Friends of the Verde River where students learn about biodiversity and taxonomy). We purchased iPads in 2024 that will be used annually for this project. 3000 6000 Kids' Night Outs: There were 7 Kids' Night Out sessions in 2024 that benefited 105 participants. 0 2500 STEAM Birthday Parties: The Science Vortex hosted 10 birthday parties in 2024. 0 2000 146614 Laurie Altringer President Treasurer- Employee- Director- Lead Instructor 40 47950 0 0 Viviane Kraus Secretary Director 2 0 0 0 Matthew Scheidegger Director 1 0 0 0 Donald Groves Director 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 AZ Lauren Altringer 725 S Cedar Ridge Ct Cornville AZ 86325 9282257830 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 NONE NONE 1 X 55178 43570 23844 48387 90087 261066 0 0 0 0 0 0 16200 26400 26400 26400 26400 121800 71378 69970 50244 74787 116487 382866 382866 382866 241727 X RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED Form 990-EZ, Part I, Line 16 Other expenses include fees: Payroll Fees ($925), Liability Insurance ($1892), Cottonwood Chamber of Commerce Membership ($175), ASTC Membership ($500), Marketing ($625), Arizona Commissioners ($10) Materials for programs- both consumable and non-consumable: 47,358 total- a big portion of consumables and tech materials were used for the Camp Verde Makerspace Mobile project in 2024.