Registration is now open for Wichita State’s “Design, Build, Code” engineering summer camps. This year, the College of Engineering is hosting 21 camps, a record number, with new offerings for younger children and new camps that allow campers to design, build and code their own inventions, drones, robots and mini-computers.
Fees range from $100 for the single, half-day camps to $375 for the four, full-day camps. However, more than 100 camp scholarships are available to qualifying applicants. Scholarship recipients pay only a $10 administrative fee.
New this year are the Scratch Coding Jump Start Camps (2nd-7th grades), which meet one day only from 8:30 a.m.- noon. In this mini-camp, campers will go through the same introductory curriculum the College of Engineering K-12 Outreach team has already brought to more than 500 students in 20 classrooms during the school year. Campers will create Scratch accounts, learn the basics of Scratch coding and leave being able to continue building their skills on their own. Each camper will receive a set of Scratch coding cards ($25 value) to take home.
“We know from experience that just a few hours instruction is all it takes for children as young as second grade to learn the basics of coding. We equip them with enough knowledge that, coupled with their own curiosity, can carry them forward in developing their coding skills,” said Polly Basore Wenzl, engineering summer camp and youth outreach coordinator.
In addition to the Scratch Jump Start, coding skills figure into many additional camps: LEGO Robotics (4th-8th grades), Sphero Robotics (6th-7th grades), Vex Robotics (8th-9th grades,) Arduino Camp (8th-9th grades), Drone: Build It! Camp (8th-9th grades), Artificial Intelligences and Robotics Camp (10th-12th grades) and Cybersecurity Camp (7th-12th grades.)
Other camps teach computer-assisted drawing (CAD) skills, used in 3D printing and advanced manufacturing. These camps include Middle School Biomedical Engineering (6th-7th grade), and Hot Weelz Car Design Camp, where campers design, 3D print test miniature cars.
There are seven camps aimed at 10th-12th graders: High School Biomedical Engineering, Go Baby Go!, Inventor Camp, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Renewable Energy Camp, High School Circuits Camp (electrical engineering), and Cybersecurity.
“High school camps are an important recruiting tool for us, so we like to offer a lot of variety,” Wenzl said.
For example, in Inventor Camp, campers will learn how to develop an idea for a product and design and build a prototype, using 3D printing, laser cutting and basic electronics. Renewable Energy Camp will introduce campers to the science engineering involved in wind and solar power, with field trips to wind turbine and solar installations.
Younger camps are taught by experienced middle school pre-engineering teachers, while camps for high school students are led by Wichita State engineering faculty and staff. The Cybersecurity Boot Camp is led by military personnel from the Kansas Air National Guard who are actively involved in national cyber-defense.
“We are proud of the program we have built since camps were first held in 2008. Our most popular camps typically fill soon after registration opens, so we encourage everyone not to wait to sign up,” Wenzl said.