The University of Tennessee at Martin is incorporating arts into their middle school and high school STEM camps for the first time this summer.
In the new ‘STEAM’ camp combining science, technology, engineering, mathematics and art, campers will participate in a mock space mission where they construct a spacecraft and communications devices and entertain the crew. UT Martin Education outreach director Debbie Mount said she hopes the inclusion of the arts will boost participation.
“It gives students who have a specialty in the arts an opportunity to express it and grow it,” Mount said. “The camp may also introduce some arts activities to someone who’s not done a lot with the arts before.”
Mount said students can expand on ideas from the classroom in the summer camp. The program also includes competitions for cartoon series, animated video, computer game and performance piece. Students entering grades five through 11 can participate in one of the two camps this June.
STEAMing Past STEM Camp for fifth through eighth-grade students will be held June 5-9, and UT Martin Summer STEAM Camp for ninth through 11th-grade students will be held June 12-16 on UT Martin main campus.
