STEAM Summer Camp at PNW 2016 Wraps Up Another Successful Year

STEAM Summer Camp at PNW 2016 Wraps Up Another Successful Year

Purdue University Northwest has completed its six-week STEAM Summer Camp @ PNW, 2016 on the North Central campus. The camp introduced youngsters, ages 6 to 12, to activities in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics (STEAM) and the university campus.

Participants were enrolled in one of the La Porte County Coalition of Youth Serving Agencies (YSA) of Michigan City including Imagination Station, Barker Woods, Michigan City Parks and Recreation, Safe Harbor and North Central Community Action Agencies (NCCAA). The camp was made possible by support from a 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant and NIPSCO Community Investment Grant.

Some 20 to 40 students attended camp sessions daily with up to 200 children spending one morning a week at the North Central Campus.

STEAM-Camp-4-Sum-2016PEngaging learning activities
PNW faculty, staff and local professionals offered age-appropriate indoor and outdoor learning activities designed to keep the youngsters mentally and physically engaged.

Learning activities included:

  • “Science with a Focus: Civil Engineers,” taught by Debra Pratt, PNW continuing lecturer of Education.
  • “Inventions” taught by David Pratt, PNW associate professor of Education.
  • “Origami Journal” by noted artist Michelle Wiser.
  • "Miraculous Monarch Butterflies,” presented by local Potawatomi Audubon Society members.
  • “You Scream, I Scream, We all Scream for Ice Cream!” taught by Stephanie Irk, Westville Elementary School teacher.
  • “Who Done It? A Crime Lab” with Charles A. Steele, PNW limited term lecturer in Chemistry Physics and president of Avenal Inc., and the PNW Campus Police.