Saturday Academy

Saturday Academy Saturday Academy is Portland, Oregon’s leading nonprofit organization providing hands-on learning.

Saturday Academy strives to engage all motivated young people, including those from under-represented communities, in hands-on, in-depth learning by connecting them to community experts as educators and mentors. Our vision is that all interested, pre-college students in our region will have the opportunity to interact with community experts and experience professional environments in ways that ass

ist them in developing intellectually and preparing for rewarding careers. Saturday Academy's innovative programs are open to all students in grades 2 through 12. We value all learning, and offer experiences in many disciplines. We emphasize science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), because these fields are critical for children's careers and their fast pace of change is difficult to address in traditional school settings. Saturday Academy was founded in 1983, and became an independent 501c3 nonprofit in 2006. Saturday Academy has provided instruction to more than 185,000 students throughout Oregon and SW Washington.

What's your plan for when school is out, but you still have to work?In the Portland area, there aren't a lot of options ...
09/03/2026

What's your plan for when school is out, but you still have to work?

In the Portland area, there aren't a lot of options for high schoolers to engage in fun, career-connected activities outside of school, and that's where Days Off comes in.

Days Off isn't a camp. It's a career experience, held on select no-school days throughout the year. We partner with Portland STEAM-driven organizations like Nike, Jaguar Land Rover, OHSU, and more.

This fall, that means a day at the Food Innovation Center in partnership with Tillamook, exploring careers in food science; behind-the-scenes tours, hands-on workshops, and Q&As with real professionals. Cost-assistance is available!

Explore our Fall Days Off and reserve your spot: bit.ly/4yiJ639

Lunch & Learns are a great resource for ASE apprentices to network and learn from guest speakers who represent a diverse...
08/28/2026

Lunch & Learns are a great resource for ASE apprentices to network and learn from guest speakers who represent a diverse array of STEAM careers.

But these opportunities wouldn't be possible without the guests who take time out of their busy schedules to chat, share, and connect for an hour.

This year we were joined by Lena Fox (Community STEAM Education Navigator for PMSP), Dr. Sam Cheng (WWF's Global Lead Scientist for Impact and Evidence), Justine Pendergraft (ASE Alum & recent UCLA graduate), Sarah Osborn (Attorney at Keller Rohrback), Joie Bassham (Paralegal at CLEAR Clinic), and Riley Brookens, LCSW, CADC-II, CCTP, CVMHP, C-DBT (Clinical Director at Branches Portland Outpatient Services).

Guest speakers covered a variety of topics: exploring careers in STEAM, tackling global challenges through science, technology, and engineering, using a legal career to help others, and learning tools for stress management and emotional regulation. In each session, apprentices joined in on thoughtful conversation and got a firsthand look at STEAM careers.

A huge thank you to each of our guests for generously giving their time and expertise to our ASE apprentices. These conversations make a meaningful impact in how apprentices see their own futures in STEAM.

Support your local artists, creators, and makers!Each vendor is a student in grades 1-12, bringing their original work t...
08/27/2026

Support your local artists, creators, and makers!

Each vendor is a student in grades 1-12, bringing their original work to sell. For some, this is their first experience tabling and selling their work.

🗓️ Saturday, September 19 | 11am - 2pm
📍University of Portland | Franz 120
🏷️ Prices range from $1-$30, with proceeds going directly to the vendors.
💬 Each vendor is also creating one special item from a Saturday Academy prompt: Creating and Making Community. Proceeds from this item will go to supporting Saturday Academy's mission.

Come support what our young makers have created at our first ever Makers Market. For more information, check out our webpage: bit.ly/SA-Makers-Market

Summer camp has come to a close with our final camp of the year — Engineering Creators (grades 6-8) at Portland State Un...
08/26/2026

Summer camp has come to a close with our final camp of the year — Engineering Creators (grades 6-8) at Portland State University's Maseeh College of Engineering & Computer Science!

Campers spent the week designing and building their own tabletop amusement parks, tackling a different engineering discipline each day. PLUS, student ambassadors led us on a guided tour of the PSU engineering building — the five-story complex is home to cutting-edge research labs working on robotics, earthquake testing, and so much more. We even got to meet a professor who is on NASA's Mars Rover team.

This was the perfect way to close out another wonderful summer of programming. ☀️

08/21/2026

What our campers have been making this summer…..

Paper crowns, sports jerseys, moving hand model, sock puppets, zines, and so much more!

For the last 6 years, the ASE Symposium happened over zoom. Keynotes, presentations, celebrations, all through a screen....
08/19/2026

For the last 6 years, the ASE Symposium happened over zoom. Keynotes, presentations, celebrations, all through a screen. This year, we were finally back in person, hosted by Portland State University's Maseeh College of Engineering & Computer Science.

The day began with an illuminating keynote presentation by longtime friend of Saturday Academy, Dr. Jackie Wirz, to interns and mentors. Meanwhile, families and friends enjoyed refreshments in the Engineering Building Atrium, a bright five-story-tall open foyer, before everyone dispersed to classrooms for intern presentations.

Presentations covered the wide gamut of the 41 internship positions we had this year — from Mechanical Engineering at Bonneville Power Administration to Robotics Engineering at PSU, Civil Engineering at Mead & Hunt Inc., to Design Engineering in the Apparel and Footwear Test Labs at Nike, the Balance Disorders Laboratory and Pediatric Physical Therapy Research Projects at OHSU, and so much more.

But none of these internships could have happened without the mentors who contributed so much of their time to them. As the atrium filled back up, we turned our attention to two mentors whose commitment to ASE spans decades.

Congratulations to Dr. Elise Granek for completing 10 years as an ASE mentor for the Coastal Ecology Research internship at PSU, and congratulations to Paul Tratnyek for 30 years as an ASE mentor in what is now the Chemistry of Natural and Human-Impacted Environments internship at OHSU.

Your impact on young lives has been extraordinary and we thank you deeply.

To conclude this momentous day, we had a special celebrity guest: Caesar the No-Drama Llama! Interns and families alike hugged Caesar and posed for pictures as they left to start their next chapter, now as ASE alums.

Congratulations to this year’s ASE Interns for all their hard work!

☄️ Blast off! Campers ventured into space in our LEGO Space Explorers camp, engaging in a unique blend of LEGO, space, a...
08/17/2026

☄️ Blast off! Campers ventured into space in our LEGO Space Explorers camp, engaging in a unique blend of LEGO, space, and science.

Campers built a LEGO space shuttle together, painted paper mache planets that their space shuttle could visit, and built LEGO rovers to learn how scientists collect data from other planets. They may have even met an Alien or two 👽. It was a jam-packed week filled with teamwork, communication, and scientific thinking...one small step at a time.

Bedazzled trading cards, hand-drawn art, sculpted clay charms, perler bead creations…makers have been hard at work! This...
08/13/2026

Bedazzled trading cards, hand-drawn art, sculpted clay charms, perler bead creations…makers have been hard at work! This is just a small sample of what you’ll find on September 19.

Come support young makers and take home a one-of-a-kind creation.

📍University of Portland
🕰️ September 19, 11-2pm

Learn more: bit.ly/SA-Makers-Market

Poetry, zines, sports medicine, custom teams, and more!Two weeks ago at Summer Camp:• Bookworm Makers (grades 3-5) creat...
08/12/2026

Poetry, zines, sports medicine, custom teams, and more!

Two weeks ago at Summer Camp:

• Bookworm Makers (grades 3-5) created their very own Zines while learning how to craft compelling stories and poems.

• Athletic Creators (grades 6-8) explored unique careers in athletics, learned about sports journalism and sports management (including player salaries and trades), the intricacies of sports medicine, and how coaches prepare their teams for competition. In a special week-long project, they also created their very own teams!

Kyla is an educator and graduate student in Special Education who is passionate about creating engaging, inclusive learn...
08/06/2026

Kyla is an educator and graduate student in Special Education who is passionate about creating engaging, inclusive learning experiences for all students. She is an educator for our Science Makers, Ocean Explorers, Mystery Lab Explorers and Experimentation Explorers, grades 3-5 and K-2, camps.

💬 We asked Kyla about what sparked her passion for teaching STEAM and what her favorite moment from summer camp has been so far:

“STEAM combines my love of art and hands-on learning, creating space for students to experiment, solve problems, and discover their interests.

My favorite moment during Summer was our Ocean Explorers Friday Shareout. Students proudly shared everything they created and learned throughout the week, from coral reef models and ocean layer paintings to a marine biologist research ship they engineered out of cardboard. Seeing how excited and confident they were to present their work was incredibly rewarding.”

We’re thrilled to have Kyla as an educator this Summer!

Address

4035 NE Sandy Boulevard Suite 226
Portland, OR
97212

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 4pm
Tuesday 9am - 4pm
Wednesday 9am - 4pm
Thursday 9am - 4pm
Friday 9am - 4pm

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