BOZEMAN – The Montana State University campus is busy this week with lots of learning, but not for college students.
The NASA camp for middle school students is in full swing this week at MSU. It is an overnight camp focusing on Science Technology Engineering and Math, or otherwise known as STEM.
“I came because I thought it would be super fun and I would learn," Peyton Recine from Missoula said.
“Most of the classes at the camp are taught by MSU faculty and grad students so these kids are really getting a realistic taste of what it’s like to be in college,” said Jamie Cornish, Science Outreach Specialist at MSU.
“We’ve learned a lot of things,” Recine said.
The week-long learning experience is free to the students.
"So the camp is a partnership between the MSU Academic Technology and Outreach department and the Northwest Earth and Space Pipeline and NASA, and all three of those work together to give these kids this incredible opportunity,” Cornish said.
And not only is all of the science learning pretty unique, but kids from all over the state are able to come to MSU and take in all of this knowledge. These kids are from across Montana and come from various backgrounds.
"The unique aspect of this camp this year is we have representation from all of the American Indian tribal nations here in the state of Montana so they’re coming from not only reservations but rural communities," said Camp Director Richard White.
"And so these students who often don’t get access to these kinds of opportunities and MSU being the flagship institution for the state, especially in terms of STEM, we really feel honored to have all of these students, to have their communities and their families to really advocate for them being here," White added.
The camp encourages many kids to want to go to college that may have not thought about it before.
“And we really hope that this put them into the STEM pipeline and that they want to become our future scientists and engineers and join and help make the country a better place,” Cornish said.
This is the third year the camp has been held and the staff hopes it continues in years to come.
