CARNEGIE SCIENCE CENTER TO PARTICIPATE IN “FOLDING FOR GOOD”

Carnegie Science Center will showcase some 5,000 of the cranes Calista has already collected and will host a series of workshops for visitors to learn how to make peace cranes so they, too, can contribute to Folding for Good. The workshops will be free with general admission and are scheduled for 10 – 11:30 am on Thursday, Oct. 3, and from noon until 2 pm on three Saturdays: Oct. 5, 12, and 19. Advance registration is not
required. The display will run through Nov. 3, 2013.

Currently, Calista is a student at the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School and has already accumulated more than 60 college credits from various institutions; she is currently enrolled in the Accelerated College in High School Program at the University of Pittsburgh.  Calista is founder and CEO of Origami Salami & Folding for Good, which currently comprises 14 chapters in the United States, Australia, the Philippines, and Hungary. Origami Salami is a student movement mobilizing people as advocates for STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) studies through the fun of origami; Folding for Good is an initiative to engineer creative ways to do good with it.

Calista started Folding for Good in 2009 to combine her interests in science and origami (a hobby she picked up after receiving a beginner’s kit when she was 6 years old) with community service projects. The organization’s most recent endeavor, Operation Sandy Hook: Peace, has already surpassed its goal by amassing 10,000+ cranes. Participants in the program range from schoolchildren and their teachers, to professional origamists, origami clubs, and various community service groups.

Through her foundation, Calista and her student leaders have volunteered at numerous schools and civic organizations, including folding origami centerpieces that were auctioned for $1,300 as part of a fundraiser for the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Foundation. And now, with Carnegie Science Center, visitors of all ages can join Calista’s movement by making their own peace cranes for the victims, as well as by viewing some of the work she has already collected from around the world.

In approaching the Science Center, Calista noted science connected with folding. She points to folding patterns in both naturally occurring
scientific objects (like proteins and DNA) and man-made ones (such as the Mars Rover and computers) as evidence of the importance of folding to science fields.  

Origami Salami was developed through Calista’s participation in the Young Scholar Ambassador Program of the Davidson Institute for Talent Development. A mere six months after its conception, Calista signed a contract with Lincoln Interactive, a national cyber curriculum provider. Through this contract, Calista was responsible for developing a digital curricular program – “Investigation: Paper Engineering” – for middle school students to explain to them the connection between science and folding.

As a result of Calista’s promotion of STEM fields, she was honored this past year with the 2013 Award for Aspirations in Computing. This prestigious award is given by the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT) to just 35 young women in the United States.
She was also one of six students selected by the PA Cyber Charter School for their 2010-13 media campaign, and is the sole student blogger listed among the National Network of Digital Schools’ teachers and the Los Alamos’ National Laboratories’ scientists.

Calista has also been honored for her charitable contributions: She was named a Nestle Very Best in Youth 2013 National Finalist, a Prudential Spirit of America 2013 Distinguished Finalist, as well as having earned the gold President’s Volunteer Service Award in 2013. She plans to graduate from high school in the spring of 2014 and continue her education in college as an electrical and computer engineering major.

For more information about Carnegie Science Center programs, please visit CarnegieScienceCenter.org.