A community center in Cohoes is teaching kids about STEAM through baking.
In a Johnston Avenue basement on a hot and humid weekday afternoon, kids swirl around the kitchen tying up their hair, washing their hands, and getting their recipe books ready as they prepare to make some sweet treats.
The Connect Center for Youth is working to engage students in science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics in unconventional ways. During the camp’s summer programming, Summer of STEAM, students spend the day doing activity-based learning exercises. Like baking.
Renel Turner of Nelly’s Treats, a boutique bakery in Cohoes, is teaching a group of six how to make chocolate chip cookies from scratch.
“We need to know how to bake,” Turner said. “There's a lot of science involved with baking, there's reading, there's comprehension skills that you have to work on. So, I went ahead and figured it’s something that I love to do so, why not add those important components to the baking to make it fun for the children?”
The self-taught baker was inspired while watching a baking show more than a dozen years ago. She says since opening her shop in 2021, she has been continually rewarded.
“The smiles, the laughs, the ‘Oh, my goodness, I made this. I can't wait to take this home to my family,’ or, ‘Oh, I made this cookie, and now I can bring it home to my brother, today is his birthday,’ or whatever. So, for me, that is the most rewarding part,” Turner said.
As the week of classes continues, Turner encourages the kids to be more self-reliant as they work their way through the kitchen.
11-year-old Paige Hickok and 10-year-old Delilah Kohrs partnered up to become smart cookies. The girls write the recipe down in their notebook as they add ingredients to the red mixing bowl.
Both Hickok and Kohrs say being in the kitchen helps them learn everyday skills while rewarding them with a sweet treat.
“It's much more interesting,” Hickok said. “And like, you can go at your own pace, sort of, and I don't know it's just better.”
“Yeah, it's just like, it's more fun,” Kohrs said. “Also, we don't just have to sit there and just like read something or do work.”
Finished adding the ingredients, the girls use a hand mixer to combine them.
Once they’re thoroughly combined, the girls add the dough into a cupcake pan, making a pocket in the middle to add more treats.
Chocolate bar bits and mini marshmallows give the cookie a gooey center. The trays are then whisked away and placed in the oven for 12-15 minutes. While they wait, Turner whips out the board game “Perfection.” The girls race to match the pieces to their corresponding holes on the board before time runs out and the pieces fly out. Turner compares this to the stressors of baking.
Turner then takes the cookies out of the oven, warm, gooey, and sugary.
Outside of the occasional kitchen workshop, Connect Center hosts after school and summer programs to teach students about coding, audio engineering, acting, and drawing. All programs offered by the center are free and open to all students in grades 6 through 12 in the Capital Region.
The program was started when Ben Williams’ father, who was the church’s pastor, recognized there was a lack of safe spaces for children in the region to gather after school. The center is unaffiliated with the Good Ground Family Church, aside from being housed in its basement. When Williams’ father died in 2016, he took over the center, which has flourished. Program manager Jah-Ni Blanton says the center is also home to an Esports lab, a food pantry, and a diaper program.