Photograph by Chad Pilster

It was bugs, bugs, bugs at Sanborn Park when YSI staged its insect fair last spring.

Youth Science Institute

The insect fair is just one of a multitude of science programs YSI offers children

By Shari Kaplan

From insect fairs and wildlife festivals to science safaris and summer day camps, the Youth Science Institute has engaged children and families for years in its many programs and events at YSI Nature Centers at Vasona Lake County Park in Los Gatos, Sanborn-Skyline County Park in Saratoga and Alum Rock Park in San Jose.

As the 1990s draw to a close, the nonprofit YSI is now turning to the communities its young visitors have come from in order to raise money to renovate and expand its popular Vasona facilities.

Sierra Standish, a park interpreter, explains to Maia Abunotal the metamorphosis process of butterflies.

Photograph by Chad Pilster







Originally, Alum Rock Park was the YSI's only site. In the early 1980s, the Los Gatos and Saratoga sites opened and greatly increased the number of young people the organization could serve, through outreach programs in school classrooms and programs at its Nature Centers.

In 1994, the YSI renovated the Animal Room at its Alum Rock Park Nature Center, then took a look at Vasona. According to executive director Ann Dunham, summer day camps at Vasona have been growing by 60 percent yearly, as have school programs. With space at a premium in the current facilities, children are sometimes turned away from certain activities when there are too many signups.

Butterfly cutouts are hung from a eucalyptus tree.

Photograph by Chad Pilster







In response to this, the YSI formed a facilities committee, which drew up a plan to include a new indoor classroom; an outdoor, sit-down classroom sheltered from noise from nearby Highway 17; a fully equipped teaching laboratory; permanent exhibit space open to groups and visitors when classes are in progress; and more restroom space to meet increased demand. Approximately 5,100 square feet will be added to the current 2,800.

The expansion plan, which was drawn up at no charge by architect and former YSI board member Royal Kwock, comes to just over $1 million. With the guidance of a professional fundraising counseling firm, the YSI's board approved the feasibility study and, in February, tackled the project head-on.


Photograph by Chad Pilster

YSI executive director Anne Dunham shows Steven Burse how silk is spun.




"It all boiled down to doing something or doing nothing. It was a dramatic board meeting when the decision was made," Dunham relates. "One by one, each member of the board was polled. They expressed their fears, their hopes [and] their indecision; and one by one they all said, 'I'm in.'"

The campaign got a jump start from the YSI Guild, which runs the YSI Thrift and Gift Store at 3151 Alum Rock Ave. in San Jose. Monies from store profits and Guild members amounted to $150,000, which then gave the YSI the credibility to obtain a matching commitment from the Brownlee Foundation, a charitable organization. YSI board members followed the giving streak, bringing forth $75,000 of their own. In less than three months' time, all in all the YSI received commitments for approximately $375,000, according to Dunham.


Photograph by Chad Pilster

Edward Bell tries to get the butterfly kite he made airborne.




Committees are now being formed to seek major gifts and support from various foundations, civic clubs, city and governmental agencies and other sources. Donations from individuals, no matter what amount, are very welcome.

The YSI's mission is to enrich local communities through science and environmental education for children and teenagers--and adults, in some cases--through programs and exhibits designed to interpret natural and cultural history and inspire people's appreciation for and understanding of science and nature. Last spring's Insect Fair at the Sanborn-Skyline Nature Center is one example.


Photograph by Chad Pilster

Deanna Hann looks at insects in a case.




Other features of the Nature Center in Saratoga include natural history displays, a live arthropod menagerie, live reptiles and amphibians and the Pioneer organic garden. In Los Gatos, the Nature Center's emphasis is on water ecology and conservation. It includes exhibits on local fish, reptiles and amphibians. It is also home to the Viola Anderson Native Plant Trail.

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For more information about the YSI, its programs or its capital campaign, call 356-4945. Information is also available on the Internet at www.ysi-ca.org.

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