Academy of Natural Sciences, Penn cancel science summer camps for the year, both citing budget constraints

Two university-run science summer camps that have each served Philly kids for more than two decades will not run this summer due to budget limitations.

Academy Science Camp, run through Drexel University’s Academy of Natural Sciences, is canceling its camp for just this summer. The University of Pennsylvania’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology is ending its Anthropology Camp for this summer as well as “the foreseeable future,” the museum wrote on its website.

Both camps, which offered science lessons and projects tailored to the museums’ exhibits, cited financial pressures as the catalyst behind the decision.

Drexel’s Academy of Natural Sciences President & CEO Scott Cooper announced in the fall that the museum would scale back its operating days from Wednesday to Sunday to only Friday to Sunday. The shortened operating schedule was an effort to stem losses from low visitation rates which have yet to rebound to pre-pandemic levels, federal funding cuts and uncertainty in the future of donations, he wrote.

The new truncated public schedule made continuing the summer camp, which typically runs Monday through Friday, no longer feasible, the Academy wrote on its website.

As for subsequent years, the Academy plans to assess whether to run the camp in 2027 later in the year, said Academy spokesperson Kaitlyn Kalosy.

Last year, the camp served 360 kids ages 5-12, Kalosy said. It offered museum tours, experiments and field trips.

“We know this may be disappointing for campers who look forward to spending their summers exploring and learning with us, and we are truly grateful for the enthusiasm they bring to the Academy each year,” the Academy wrote online.

The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, meanwhile, is unable to afford the cost of staff to run its camp due to a university-wide hiring freeze, it wrote on its website. The camp served about 500 kids ages 6-13 each summer, according to a museum spokesperson. It offered workshops, expert talks and gallery explorations.

“This decision was reached only after extensive discussion and careful consideration of multiple scenarios,” the museum wrote on its website. “It was not made lightly.”

The school first ordered a hiring freeze in the spring to prepare for anticipated federal funding cuts under President Donald Trump’s administration. Last year, Penn and its centers were asked to cut 5% of certain expenses. This year, they’ve been asked to cut 4% on top of that. The cuts are aimed at helping the school keep up with mounting endowment taxes, legal, insurance and employee-benefit expenses, potential losses in research funding and changes in student loan and visa programs, Penn leaders said.