Tehama County CSI Summer STEM Camp
The second annual Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Camp, a three-day camp created to encourage students to experience and learn about different career fields through fun experiments and workshops, was held at Red Bluff High School this week.
The STEM camp, as it’s known, was available Tuesday through Thursday for incoming students in eighth grade through juniors and made possible by Red Bluff High School, Tehama County Department of Education and College Options.
This year’s STEM Camp had a Crime Scene Investigation theme where students got to do various experiments throughout the three days.Activities included an informational “What is STEM?” discussion by Lorna Manuel, a STEM career discussion by Stacey Garrett, a biology crime lab workshop presented by Jessica Gttenbein, a who dunnit investigation with Maureen Clements, a lie detector project with Rochelle Barajas and a plane activity with Cindy Mitchell.
Lukas Kennedy, Red Bluff High School’s physics, chemistry and earth science teacher, was the leader of the last three activities, which included a tire quality and friction investigation, a car and can crush investigation and an egg drop.The egg drop on the last day involved the students working in teams to create a parachute device to protect a raw egg from the drop. Kennedy demonstrated the physics behind the egg dropping event.The school is working on incorporating more of these type of classes into the schedule. Superintendent Todd Brose said STEM will start to be a bigger part of the curriculum.
The classes to be added this year include anatomy, physiology, agriculture soil chemistry and computer science engineering, Brose said. Other offerings Brose said he hopes will get kids more engaged are new mass media and guitar classes.“We are here to support and work with them,” Brose said.The school will have seven classes or periods a day to incorporate the new curriculum requirement. These electives and STEM programs will benefit students who plan to go to college by given them college credits for some of the courses.STEM camps are designed to help students find things they are passionate about.“We help kids understand what they need to do to move to higher education,” said Karissa Morehouse, of College Options. “(The state) has recognized the importance in linking high school education to the work force via college.”
The state has funded a $500,000 grant for the project in Tehama County.
The STEM program exposes students to the types of careers that the students may not have thought about before, Brose said. Activities like these will set the students of Tehama County up for success in their future endeavors.
