Cardboard, craft supplies and creativity are all students needed to have a week of fun and learning.
Fuller Elementary hosted Camp Invention from July 7-11, and the camp involved hands-on STEM activities to encourage children to be creative.
“Our school was looking for an opportunity to provide enrichment for students,” Assistant Camp Director Carlee Williams said.
The camp held four classes focusing on different innovations that students rotated between.
“Every day they're in each class, and each day it kind of builds on the last class,” Fuller teacher Jennifer Hicks said. “By the end of the week, they have an end product that they have become an expert in.”
One class focused on creativity by having students create props and illusions.
Another had students create a model of Antarctica to understand penguin hab- itats and solve ecology issues.
“There’s no right or wrong answer, and that's the thing I love about it,” Williams said. “You might have students that want to do it one way and then you have the children who want to do it another way, and that's what I love about it.”
The third class had students chose their own path on a hypothetical road trip with a handmade dashboard, transmitter and receiver.
“I don't think we're going to slow down, and so the kids definitely need to be able to live in a society where we are heavily reliant on modern technology,” Hicks said. “STEM is just really important for our kids to be comfortable with even if they choose not to go into that field.”
The final class concentrated on creation and physics as students created their own mechanical claw machines.
“Everybody's thinking outside the box right now and hearing each other's ideas,” Hicks said. “Everybody is sharing their thought processes because we all don’t think alike. It’s an opportunity for them to learn how to get along with people that they may not know.”
The camp hosts incoming first through sixth graders from around the area.
“It allows everyone from other communities to come and put their minds together,” Williams said.
Four teachers, two directors, and 13 middle and high school students led the camp.
“I really think they’re able to connect with your younger kids even more than teachers can,” Williams said. “It gives the middle school and high schoolers an opportunity to kind of be in charge, and I think that that's really awesome.”
Parents who preregister for next summer will get a discount of $50.
“I hope next year will be bigger,” Williams said. “I would love to get more classes, interns and volunteers.”
