AMERICUS — Despite being on summer break, more than 40 eager young minds attended South Georgia Technical College’s (SGTC) STEM camps during June and July. The camps were held on both the Americus and Cordele campuses of the college.
The middle and high school groups spent three and four days each exploring the college’s different areas to learn about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in a hands-on, real-world way.
High school students who attended the camp on the college’s Cordele campus had the opportunity to bake cookies, weld a candle holder, practice drawing blood, build a robotic hand and several other engaging activities. Through doing so, the participants learned about electronics, anatomy, robotics, chemistry, and various other STEM principles, while having fun.
Weeks later, a sold-out class, composed of sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students from around the area, attended SGTC’s second camp of the summer, which was held on the Americus campus.
The four-day camp allowed the participants to learn by exploring different aspects of the STEM fields by hearing from instructors, seeing equipment in action and working on projects. The students jumped right in on the first day by learning how to design and 3D print their own names, watching a robotic arm change a car tire and learning how to program a robot to move and speak.
Throughout the rest of the camp, the participants would go on to learn about solar power, the science behind basketball, crime scene investigation, air resistance, coding and several other lessons that may help excite the students about STEM education.
“Our program has been designed to be educational and entertaining,” said Nancy Fitzgerald, SGTC grant coordination and organizer/host of the STEM camps. “SGTC is fortunate to be able to offer this program for free from a grant that was awarded to us, and we are looking forward to hosting more STEM days and STEM camps in the future. If I have inspired one student to further his or her education in STEM or to choose a STEM field for a career, then it’s definitely worthwhile and a success.”
With the help of the Georgia Youth Science and Technology Center (GYSTC) and the Chattahoochee-Flint Regional Educational Service Agency (RESA), South Georgia Technical College has hosted more than 1,000 local k-12 students for STEM related events since the beginning of 2018.