Camp Invention, an organization associated with the National Inventors Hall of Fame, recently held its annual youth science camp in June at Lake Oconee Academy.
The organization hosts camps all around the country and is open to all kids from kindergarten through sixth grade.
Katherine Nolley, who is the director of Camp Invention at Lake Oconee Academy, noticed this year’s event saw more turnout than in previous years.
“Most of the other years, we’ve usually had around 60 kids in total, but this year, we grew substantially to 102 students,” Nolley said. “I feel like that’s mainly because I collaborated with other local organizations that were running camps and made sure that we had enough camps to fill the summer.”
The camp was also open to all who could make it. About a quarter of the kids in attendance were from schools other than Lake Oconee Academy, and some even made the trip from out of state.
Older students were allowed to participate as well. Seventh and eighth graders attended as leaders-in-training, while high school students volunteered as leadership interns, assisting camp instructors with their lessons.
From June 10-14, all kids involved participated in various activities from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Nolley was able to see how beneficial holding an all-day, week-long camp was to the community.
“Really just to be more of a benefit to our parents as a lot of them are specifically looking for places for their kids to actually receive an educational experience during the week,” Nolley said.
The camp was divided up, by age, into separate groups that rotated between five different stations daily. Each “module” had kids focusing on unique aspects of the scientific world.
From exploring circuit boards to designing equipment, Nolley acknowledged how Camp Invention allows younger kids to develop their own problem-solving skills.
“They’re big into innovation, inquiries and having the kids ask questions, having them investigate,” Nolley said. “It builds leadership, resourcefulness in the kids and teaches them to make their own discoveries.”
The five classes the camp rotated between included Robotic Aquatics, NIHF Attic, Marble Arcade, Spacecation and Camp Invention Games.
Each one focused on a specific aspect of the different types of sciences available to learn from in a fun way.
The Robotic Aquatics class was a favorite among students who were interested in the ocean, while other kids enjoyed the Marble Arcade given its degree of difficulty with the physics involved.
Overall, the camp develops passion in younger kids who may one day grow up to be great inventors. Nolley believes that hands-on STEM events like these are essential for inspiring younger generations to become more innovative and self-reliant.
“This camp has taught me to sit back, facilitate and allow for the kids to come up with their own ideas, then put it into practice,” Nolley said. “This program is really big in helping children to ask questions themselves, so rather than saying ‘can I fix that for you?’, it’s ‘what can I do to fix that?”
Camp Invention is a program Lake Oconee Academy hosts annually, and sign-ups for next year’s camp are already open to all who are interested.