businessSPOTLIGHT: Challenge Island Central PA

What services or products does your business offer?
Challenge Island provides STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Art Math) enrichment workshops for anyone ages 4-99 where participants work in teams to engineer solutions to our challenges using 21^st Century skills like Communication, Collaboration, and Critical Thinking. Workshops are conducted in the form of after-school programs, Scouts, Summer Camps, Kids Night Out events, Family Nights, and team building as well.

How does your business separate itself from your competition?
Challenge Island is a mobile business, enabling programs to go where the participants are. It is a screen-free program and allows participants to enhance their growth mindset and problem-solving skills. Here at Challenge Island, your imagination drives the engineering, not the instructor providing step-by-step answers. Our programs promote higher level thinking – participants reach the highest level of cognition – CREATING – during every Challenge Island experience.

How do you see your business growing in the future?
Challenge Island is still a new kid on the block, especially considering our launch at the commencement of a global pandemic. Our business will continue to grow into a regular household name in both our East Shore and West Shore communities to raise STEAM awareness and harness the curiosity and courage to increase STEM/STEAM careers. Challenge Island Central PA will continue to add customers for Summer Camps and afterschool and will grow in the Senior segment, as well as the Pre-K programs.

How does your business get involved in the community?
Challenge Island Central PA is a STEAM advocate and gets involved in the community through various Chamber events, school outings, and community sponsorships, such as The Whitaker Center and the YWCA of Greater Harrisburg. This past May our participation in Remake Learning Days Across America as well as Milton Hershey School career exploration night, allowed us to enlighten even more people about STEAM in our communities.

How long has your business been a member of the Chamber?
Challenge Island Central PA joined the Chamber in April 2020 – two years already with the Chamber!

How has Chamber membership been beneficial to your business?
Chamber membership has been beneficial in providing outlets to increase brand awareness and inform many that we are here in the community, even while we were building our business doing virtual sessions instead of in person. Another awesome benefit is that of connection. Even though there are competitors within, there is always a feel of genuine care and wanting to help others to connect in some way. That is very beneficial to a small business owner, especially one just starting out.

Challenge Island Central PA’s custom-built STEAM programs meet the comprehensive social, emotional, and intellectual needs of both today’s playful, creative child and tomorrow’s globally successful adult through cross-curricular STEAM education.

717-831-8717
centralpa@challenge-island.com