BioTroopers: Parent Interview with Chitra Unnikrishnan

Watch our Parent interview with Chitra Unnikrishnan to hear firsthand what children experience and how they grow at BioTroopers.

Transcript of the interview

How did you know Bio Troopers was the right fit?

My husband and I have been looking for things to supplement our kids' public education. And so we found things like math and things like that. But personally, I studied in India and I had learned a lot of biology. And when I look at their curriculum, they're not really advancing in some of these areas or they don't have enough opportunities.

When I heard about a biology camp, it's focused on really areas that are not covered in school, and I don't see a lot of workshops that address this subject. So I just really wanted to expand what they're exposed to, right? And I think Bio Troopers really hit it out of the park in achieving that objective.

What’s unique about the camp?

What's unique about Bio Troopers is they make it fun. It's so fun. Sometimes I have stayed back in workshops and watched it and I'm like, "Can I take a look at the microscope and see what's happening there?" Because it's so engaging.

Two things make Bio Troopers really unique. One is how fun they make it, with things like microscopes and experiments and yeast experiments, cooking experiments. And second is the founder, the credibility and the quality that she brings with her knowledge really, really takes it up a notch for me. Vaishali, the founder, she's a scientist and she has the knowledge, right?

Was there any personal growth you saw in your child?

I think they were just not exposed to this. They were not exposed to a microscope. And maybe because in schools they don't yet have it. My kids are 8 and 11, and we don't have a microscope at home and things like that. So I think their minds were blown about the fact that a leaf can have these many cells and these many bacteria and microbes and things like that.

I just found they came back a lot more curious about the world and about what they see in nature and things like that. And it just opens their mind into what does it mean to become a scientist, right? And my daughter is 11, she's thinking about future career options, and I feel like scientist is now maybe an option that she'll explore.

How can a parent support their child to get the most out of Bio Troopers?

It's really just expose them to it, right? It's not hard. Vaishali has these workshops, and she even came to Etobicoke because she partnered with Code Ninjas. And so it was really close to us.

I passed it on to parents as well. Some parents jumped on the opportunity. Some parents felt like it may be too serious. And the thing is, go explore it once, try it. And once you do, I think you'll be convinced that this is so fun and engaging.

What would you tell other parents about the overall value of Bio Troopers?

The overall value that they get is that they get exposed to things that they don't normally do at school. And in fact, it makes their school education a lot more effective because they learn the theory, and here in Bio Troopers, you get the practical experience, right, of understanding certain chemical reactions.

And then when you go to school and you learn something, periodic table, it's, "Oh, okay, I get it," right? It's almost like you're living the experience.

What do your children say about Bio Troopers?

They loved it, they absolutely loved it. And I remember when I first introduced it to them, they weren't excited, but once they went in, they wanted to go again. We've signed up for the summer camp for the upcoming summer as well. So I feel like only when you try it will you love it, right?

The kids do love Bio Troopers, and they even now speak about some experiments that they did there. Like a simple thing, Vaishali said vitamin C is very helpful for your teeth. And in olden days, people didn't have oranges and they got scurvy. And they say that to me every single time, "Mama, give me oranges because I need vitamin C for my teeth." Things like that, you know, it's very memorable the way it's done.

Any final thoughts on Bio Troopers?

What I want to add is I really think this is a missing gap—biology workshops and what Vaishali does is a gap overall, and very few students have been exposed to it. So I really want to see what we can do just as a parent to expose more parents and kids to it.

And I think Our Kids—and that's why I'm doing this interview, right? Because I want to spread the word and I want to spread the goodness from the Bio Troopers camps.