Local students show off innovation at Camp Invention

Brooke McAfee, The Evening News and the Tribune, Jeffersonville, Ind.
·3 min read

Jun. 21—SOUTHERN INDIANA — A local summer program is allowing kids to explore their creative side while participating in STEM activities.

Clarksville Community Schools is presenting the weeklong Camp Invention through Friday at Renaissance Academy. The camp is a national STEM program from the National Inventors Hall of Fame led by local educators in schools across the country.

More than 50 students from first to sixth grade participate in three sessions a day to create their own projects. It includes interactive activities related to space, aquatics, engineering and physics.

Alexis Jenkins, a Clarksville Middle School teacher, is the director of the Camp Invention at Renaissance Academy. The camp shows kids "they can be fun and inventive."

"A lot of summer camps are activities like swimming and playing outside, but this is keeping them engaged through the summer and also just letting them create their own thing," she said.

A "spacecation" activity involved the creation of "space backpacks" and an "astro-arm" device, as well as learning about space exploration. Another activity is allowing students to create a "marble arcade" using poster board and recycled material.

For the "robot aquatics" class, students can take home their own mini aquariums as they develop a habitat for a robotic fish.

Clarksville Middle School teacher Matthew Goss led the "spacecation" session at Camp Invention. The session is teaching kids about subjects such as robotics and engineering.

"It's been a blast — I love it," he said. "This is all the stuff I loved doing in school when I was younger, and I wish I could have done more stuff like this, like more hands-on stuff."

Goss is happy to see the amount of engagement the camp provides, he said.

"No matter what grade level it is, the engagement is always there, and they're always ready to continue trying more stuff, and they want to know more," he said. "There's been a lot of questions."

Bridey Branstetter, 8, enjoyed putting together a pack for the "virtual spacecation," which involved "making a backpack to see what you might bring in space."

She has enjoyed learning new things throughout the camp. On Monday, she was excited to learn about "water bears," or tardigrades, which are microscopic animals known for their ability to survive in extreme conditions, even in space.

Clarksville Middle School teacher Valerie Crawford taught the "marble arcade" activity involving making a set of tracks on poster board for a marble to roll through. The project combined math and physics, and as students created their arcades, they learned to "test the mass and see how fast the different angles of their tracks go," she said.

On Tuesday, Clarksville Middle School student Ava Pendelton worked on a ramp for her arcade. The projects have helped her become more creative and "just have more fun," she said.

Kelley Bennett taught the "robotic aquatics" activity at Camp Invention, and she has loved seeing the innovation from the kids.

"When we had to make our robotic arms, it was like out of straws and tape and chopstick and just crazy stuff, and they were amazing in the things they were able to come up with and make these robotic arms to be able to get their jellyfish out of the water without using their hands," Bennett said. "Being able to figure that out was amazing."