Camp in a Box
Caldwell Fellows worked to make sure an academic summer camp was fun — even online.
By Stacy Chandler
Learning about STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — tends to be a hands-on process. You build stuff, you break stuff and you often work with others to do it. But 2020 turned into a decidedly hands-off year amid precautions against COVID-19, so the Caldwell Fellows’ Service NC and SATELLITE summer camps had to adapt.
Service NC, usually a three-week day camp for Siler City (N.C.) Elementary students in July, went virtual as a “camp in a box,” says John Loomis, a junior meteorology and communication media major from Cary, N.C., and a Caldwell leader for both camps.
From their homes, campers used a kit with items like Rubik’s Cubes, fidget spinners and Legos to explore architecture, algorithms and other STEM fundamentals. Each day started with a video conference introducing a concept and issuing a challenge for students to work with offline. In the afternoon, the students reconvened online to talk about what they’d learned.
They made connections with the material and with each other, despite the circumstances. “Even though each week started with a bit of awkwardness and uncomfortableness . . . there was definitely a lot to gain from them recognizing that we’re all in a similar situation,” Loomis says.
Likewise, the SATELLITE (Science and Technology Enriching Lifelong Leadership in Tomorrow’s Endeavors) program, which normally brings high-school sophomores to campus for five days of tours, talks and science programs, was shifted online in May. The virtual version offered experiments led by professors that allowed students to chime in on next steps and use video presentations to discuss what they were seeing.
“Both of these camps mean so much more to the counselors than just running a summer camp,” Loomis says, “because they all teach us something about ourselves, they teach us something about the community around us, and I think that was something that all of us recognized and didn’t want to give up on.”
The NC State Alumni Association founded the Caldwell Fellows and supports its scholarships, stipends and programming.
- Categories:
