UH will host three camps this summer to expose youth to studies in science and math.
The ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Summer Science Camp returns for its tenth year at UH. Founder Bernard A. Harris Jr. provides this all-expenses-paid two-week residential camp to 48 Houston students entering sixth, seventh or eighth grade. The camp will be hosted June 7 through 19. The application deadline is April 3.
Camp activities include media day where Harris will come out and engage in a Mars rover landing activity with the students, field trips to NASA and the George Observatory to engage in a mission ‘in space.’ Within the camp’s theme of “Voyaging into the Cosmic Ocean,” team-building exercises will help students engage with one another.
“This gives entering middle school students an opportunity to see what the STEM fields are like and actually engage in the activities to see (what career path they’d like to take),” said Camp Coordinator Wanetta Jones-Allen.
Another STEM camp series, represented by teachHOUSTON, will offer four camps for entering fifth and sixth graders. The sessions will be June 22 through 26, July 6 through 10, July 13 through 17 and July 20 through 24. Topics include crime scene investigation, movie magic, physics and imagination with an engineering component.
“With this camp, the students attend during the day between the hours of 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.,” said Jones-Allen. “They have the opportunity to come together and engage in lessons, science labs and do hands-on experiences to give them a feel of what it’s like.”
TeachHOUSTON also offers the nonresidential Bonnie J. Dunbar STEM Academy camp to entering seventh and eighth graders. This camp will offer imagination, robotics, crime scene and investigation topics during the course of four weeks, with session running June 15 through 19, June 22 through 26, July 6 through 10, and July 13 through 17. Both nonresidential camp applications are due May 1.
“This gives (students) the opportunity to engage in science labs, design lessons and do investigations,” said Jones-Allen.
The main goal of the camps is provide a quality summer learning experience with hands-on experiences.
“I want students to understand the math and science of each topic and for them to be able to transfer that into their regular math and science classes throughout the academic school year,” said Jones-Allen. “(It will enable them to) start some pre-college and career decisions on what career path they’d like to take and having exposure.”
