Photo By Christopher Estrada | Dr. Edward Stech, a research physics professor at the University of Notre Dame’s...... read more read more
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WARREN, Mich.— Army teams are providing the next generation of scientists, engineers and researchers a head start on their academic futures at several summer camps catered for students in kindergarten through high school.
The Department of Defense Great Lakes Region and Tribal Nations K-12 Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) summer camps are sponsored annually by the Michigan-based U.S. Army DEVCOM Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC). The camps are coordinated as part of GVSC’s STEM outreach program.
This past summer, GVSC held seven camps from Watersmeet, Michigan, to South Bend, Indiana, with an emphasis on robotics, mathematics, physics-based learning modules and other STEM subject matter. Students hailed from five tribal nations and 15 public school districts from across the region, with some camps held on tribal lands.
The camps provided experiences tailored to the unique audiences at each location. At Fort Custer, Michigan, U.S. Army JROTC cadets learned chemistry, physics, robotics and applied mathematics, while at the University of Notre Dame’s Physics Department, students toured the department’s nuclear accelerator labs and learned about isotopes, cosmic rays and nuclear radiation. They also learned how STEM can be applied to the preservation of books more than 500 years old at the University of Notre Dame Book Restoration and Preservation Lab.
At Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, media arts students learned to apply sound and light manipulation to their culminating video projects, which included an interview session with Oscar-nominated video production experts.
In Hessel, students from the surrounding Ojibwe and Sault Tribes embarked on science ship cruises, sailing on Lake Huron aboard the Inland Seas Education Association science ship, where they learned about marine biology, maritime navigation and environmental science during the two three-hour cruises.
Greg Chappelle, GVSC’s DoD STEM coordinator, said camp locations are selected to provide greater accessibility to public schools and tribal nation schools in remote locations.
“During the summer, our goal is to educate as many K-12 students and JROTC cadets as possible within DEVCOM GVSC's area of influence," Chappelle said. “We want to make sure that all students have the opportunity to learn about STEM, and so we look to provide advanced DoD STEM subject matter to students in urban, rural and remote areas.”
Since 1989, GVSC has been historically recognized in awards for its STEM programs from organizations such as the NAACP, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Institutions, the Detroit City Council and the Michigan State Legislature, Chappelle said.
Throughout the summer, the camps are staffed by DoD STEM teaching professionals, whose ranks include K-12 teachers, professors and DoD scientists and engineers.
Grayling Mercer, who teaches physics and astronomy at Oak Park Public Schools, and Nicole Ames-Powell, who has taught mathematics in Detroit Public Schools for 23 years, have been involved with the program for more than a decade. They received training from the Office of the Secretary of Defense to enhance STEM teaching methodologies across the region.
Andrew Kosinski, a mechanical engineer at GVSC’s Ground Vehicle Robotics lab, attends many of the camps during the summer, bringing along an Army GVSC PackBot robot for students to operate and learn about.
“It's always a pleasure to be able to go out and teach the students about robotics," Kosinski said. "The hands-on learning we're able to provide with our robots always makes for a fun and engaging environment to get the kids interested in STEM, and I'm grateful our organization can provide that for them.”
The effectiveness of the camps doesn’t seem to be lost on the students either, with many returning faces from previous iterations eager to learn more about STEM through their K-12 journey.
During 2020 and 2022, GVSC, Bay Mills Indian Community (Ojibwe Tribe), Wayne State University and Harvard University jointly conducted educational studies to show how tribal camp students performed during the school year. The students displayed high GPAs and a strong vision of what career they were interested in pursuing.
The camps are financially supported each year through DEVCOM’s Army Educational Outreach Program Office, GVSC’s DoD STEM K-12 Office, and by local school districts and universities to further enhance the camps’ experience. Through a joint effort, GVSC is helping to develop the future DoD STEM workforce through these camps, and additional projects throughout the year.
“At the end of the day, when we work to get kids interested in STEM fields, we're cultivating the future DoD workforce,” Chappelle said. “Even if they never interact with the DoD outside of our camps, but go on to have a career in STEM, we're adding valuable educational experiences to local and rural communities in providing K-12 students a pathway to success during high school and college.”
| Date Taken: | 09.05.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 09.05.2024 14:19 |
| Story ID: | 480166 |
| Location: | MICHIGAN, US |
| Web Views: | 311 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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