The UNT Mechanical and Energy Department hosted their second annual Future Engineers Summer Camp at Discovery Park for kids who are entering the ninth all the way up to the 12th grade.
Kids participated in activities such as 3D printing, aluminum sand casting, injection molding and building solar cars and planes.
Students show off their plastic molded plates during the Future Engineers camp at Discovery Park in Denton, Texas on June 13, 2019. Photo by Trevon McWilliams
“We been experiencing the different things that go on in an engineers life,” Keller High School senior Cody McPherson said. “It’s cool to go around and see the science behind engineering and the technology we have today.”
UNT mechanical engineering senior Peyton Parker, who is one of the student workers for the camp, said that she has seen a lot of growth within the students during the camp.
“A camp like this really exposes kids to see what’s out there and what engineering offers,” Parker said. “I think this exposes them to a college setting and how to work with other people.”
For some of these campers, UNT is their first time ever stepping onto a college campus.
“UNT is a lot bigger than what I thought it was,” said Elizabeth Gordon, a Lake Dallas High School junior. “It’s [UNT] a lot of fun and the buildings are huge.”
The camp has grown from 10 campers last summer to 13 campers in the first session this summer. Erin Allice, the marketing and outreach coordinator for UNT’s mechanical and energy engineering department, said she expects at least 15 campers in the second session in July.
Allice said she felt that they improved the structure of the camp due to the bad weather they received last summer.
Campers this summer enjoyed activities like aluminum sand casting and 3D printing throughout the week.
Some of the students also used this opportunity to gather information on what colleges they may want to go to for the future.
“It definitely is going to help with recruiting,” camp coordinator Robert P. Smith said. “[For] most of them, I believe that them being here is going to be a strong reason to consider UNT and might pull them over to our program.”
“If somebody was just coming into this [engineering] program and they were not sure if they wanted to be in the UNT program, it would really help them,” Gordon said. “I feel like it affects my decision on colleges, like coming here and seeing what it’s like at UNT.”
The second session for the camp will be hosted July 8-12. The cost of the camp is $300 per student which includes meals and materials needed for the students to participate.
Featured Image: Keller High School freshman Laasya Teeparthi constructs the final touches to her solar powered vehicle for a competition against other students during the Future Engineers camp at Discovery Park in Denton, Texas on June 11, 2019. Photo by Trevon McWilliams