GVSU camp introduces girls to engineering

Middle school girls will get a glimpse into the careers of technology and engineering at a four-day camp in June at Grand Valley State University. The camp is held to expose female students to careers in STEM occupations, which are made of less than 30 percent women. 

Science, Technology and Engineering Preview Summer (STEPS) Day Camps will be held June 19-22 and June 26-29 in the Kennedy Hall of Engineering on the Pew Grand Rapids Campus.

More than 80 campers from about 20 area schools will get hands-on engineering experience by designing, manufacturing and flying radio-controlled electric airplanes. Campers will engage in classes such as solar energy, aerodynamics, 3D printing, renewable energy and biomedical engineering. They will visit a corporate hangar to see fixed wing and helicopter airplanes.  

MEDIA NOTE: Campers will fly their airplanes at the Warped Wings Fly Field located at the corner of Alger and 56th Avenue in Allendale Thursday, June 22, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Another Fly Night is schedule for Thursday, June 29, from 6:30-8:30 p.m.

The camp is coordinated by the Seymour and Esther Padnos College of Engineering and Computing with support from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Major sponsors include Amway, Arconic Foundation, Arconic Power and Propulsion, Bosch, Byrne Electrical Specialists, Consumer's Energy, GE, Gentex, NASA and Michigan Space Grant Consortium, and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Education Foundation. 

The STEPS camp began at the University of Wisconsin-Stout and has been replicated in Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan and South Dakota. Grand Valley has hosted a STEPS camp each summer since 2002.

For more information and a complete schedule of events, visit www.gvsu.edu/steps/ or contact Sara Maas at (616) 331-6025.