Birkerød Gymnasium invests in local academic communities for children and young people

A new partnership between Birkerød Gymnasium and The Science Club aims to ensure that curious children and young people have the opportunity to pursue their passion for science.

As of today, Birkerød Gymnasium is a proud partner of The Science Club – a nationwide community where children and young people engage in science in their spare time. The partnership builds on an existing collaboration in which volunteer upper secondary students from Birkerød Gymnasium serve as mentors and instructors on The Science Club’s courses. The collaboration between Birkerød Gymnasium and The Science Club has existed since 2025, but with the new partnership, the school commits even more clearly to taking local responsibility for strengthening academic communities for children and young people. In doing so, Birkerød Gymnasium helps ensure that children and young people in the local area have a place to gather around their interest in science and learning – including those who do not always find room for their academic passions elsewhere in their leisure time.

“As an international school with a strong local foundation, we have a responsibility both to our own students and to the children and young people in the surrounding community. The Science Club gives our students the chance to grow academically by teaching science, and personally by serving as role models. At the same time, we offer local children and young people a space where they can come together around their academic interests.” — Coordinator Mette L. H. Sørensen, Birkerød Gymnasium

Great need for pressure‑free communities In 2025, more than 800 children were on the waiting list to participate in science activities in their spare time through The Science Club. According to the organisation’s director, this illustrates a great need to create communities that allow space for curiosity and a desire for knowledge. “Many children and young people today lack places where they can immerse themselves without being measured and evaluated. The Science Club is precisely such a place, but we cannot carry out this task alone,” says the director of The Science Club, Rikke Schmidt Kjærgaard. Upper secondary schools play a central role in the effort to build these academic communities, the director explains. In addition to providing facilities, academic resources, and volunteer students, they also send an important signal to both children and young people: “Upper secondary schools show children and young people that there is room for curiosity and the joy of learning within a community free from performance pressure. They help us put the performance race on pause, and that value cannot be measured in money.”

Photo: Janus Moos, The Science Club

Fact Box In The Science Club, children and young people attend science activities as an extracurricular programme. The teaching is carried out by volunteer upper secondary students, who are recruited by the school and trained by The Science Club. In 2026, The Science Club will reach more than 3,000 children and young people across 70 municipalities.