Students at the Discovering Chemistry Camp. Photo by Blaine Falkena, Missouri S&T.
Story submitted by the Kummer Center for STEM Education for the College of Arts, Sciences, and Education’s newsletter, published in July 2024.
Courtney Jones, director of the Kummer Center for STEM Education, highlights some of the unique experiences at S&T’s recent summer camps.
Summer camps are a part of recruitment at Missouri S&T and a source of outreach to Missouri’s underserved students.
“Through a variety of sources, we were able to give out $90,000 in summer camp scholarships this summer,” Jones says. “We are strategically reaching out to underserved students and exposing them to STEM experiences on the S&T campus, so they become familiar with a university environment, get inspired with hands-on activities and experience a wide range of disciplines.”
Thanks to two S&T alumni, the Amusement Park Design Camp, directed by Marty Pickney, was able to visit the site of Oasis at Lakeport, a multi-million dollar amusement park that will open in 2025. The campers were given a tour and were able to see roller coasters being constructed, followed by a trip to Six Flags, where the campers experienced G-forces and physics up close and personal.
For the first time, Art in the Ozarks Camp was held on-site at the Ozark Research Field Station. Directed by Dr. Robin Verble, campers learned artistic forms while exploring nature and incorporating their finds into their works of art. One of their creations this year was the installation and partial design of a mural on the site.
Discovering Chemistry Camp is growing in popularity and takes complex concepts and explains them through experiments that have campers learning and being inspired without it feeling like “school.” Dr. Nathan Leigh, the camp director, explains chemistry as the “central science” because it touches many other scientific disciplines.
The week was capped by chemistry demonstrations led by Dr. Terry Bone, followed by a “sweet” send-off in the form of liquid nitrogen ice cream prepared by Dr. “Smitty” Grubbs. There were 36 participants this year (a great improvement over last year’s 16) ranging in age from 13 to 17, and from as near as Rolla to as far away as Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Washington state. Among the parents who attended the week’s closing events were a number of S&T alumni; we hope that some of the campers will be among the next generation of S&T alumni!
Engineering with Biology, a new camp directed by Dr. Dave Westenberg, explored how living organisms can be designed and modified to produce valuable chemicals that might be used to solve some of the biggest challenges of our lifetime.
Jolt Junkies Camp, directed by Dr. Phil Mulligan, was a new camp that introduced middle school students to the world of reverse engineering. They took vintage appliances and reassembled them into working devices while learning engineering principles and design concepts. Hosted in S&T’s Makerspace, this hands-on camp was perfect for kids who love to tinker and build.
Mining the Mind Camp was psychology’s first-ever summer camp directed by Dr. Clair Kueny. Students got creative and designed their experiments, ranging from testing which content is perceived as more creative: human or AI-generated, the effects of observers on moral behavior, and how information about composers can influence how much listeners like certain music. Along the way, they got to test out the different psychology labs, get creative in the S&T Collaboratory, and brainstorm with undergraduates on how to share their findings with friends and family.
Is It Alive Day Camp, directed by Roxanne Hanna, is our youngest camp and, many times, is a camper’s first experience on a college campus. This camp works with the Rolla Outdoor Collaborative School and takes daily field trips to explore the Ozarks and learn about the world around them.
Movie Makers Evening Camp, directed by Victoria Hagni, just finished its second year. From storytelling to screenwriting, this camp takes budding Hollywood hopefuls and teaches them the basics in one week. The last day is filled with sequined dresses, a red carpet, and gold figurine awards. Yes, there is popcorn, too!
Outdoor World: Urban and Rural Camp, a joint camp between Dr. Joel Burken and Courtney Jones, split residence between on-campus and the Ozark Research Field Station. This camp rolls science, biology, environmental challenges, and camping into one inspirational camp that shows some of the obstacles that civil engineers face in the 21st century in addition to getting to experience field research firsthand.
Missouri S&T offered 29 summer camps and is expanding its camp offerings in 2025. Camp registrations open Dec. 15, 2024, at summer.mst.edu.
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