Star Students: Owensboro Innovation Middle offers NASA-partnered camp
Jul. 26—Though the school year may not be starting for a few more weeks, Owensboro Innovation Middle School received some foot traffic Monday morning from students who attended the first NASA Astro Camp.
In partnership with the NASA, the weeklong camp provides hands-on activities for incoming sixth-grade students who have a passion for space science.
According to NASA's website, the organization's Astro Camp Collaborative Community Partner Program (ACCP) offers NASA science curriculum, activities and opportunities to children and families through collaboration with universities, schools, museums, libraries and youth service organizations.
Jessica Coomes, one of the camp's directors and the seventh-grade science facilitator at the school, said they went to training over the summer in preparation for the camp where they received all the lesson plans and written materials needed.
On the first day, the students worked on creating their own mission patches in groups — which are emblems designed and worn by astronauts and people affiliated with a mission, according to NASA.
"Every NASA-manned mission starts with a mission patch that represents all the crew members' names and it represents not only the goals of the space mission, but also the lives and interests of each crew member," Coomes said.
Coomes said that the week is to include other topics and activities such as heliophysics, planetary science, building rockets and learning about the lunar module landing system and more.
Lindsey Overby, camp co-director and sixth-grade science facilitator, said the camp also embraces challenges that the students may endure.
"It's a constant trial and error and you usually learn more from your mistakes," Overby said. "A lot of the famous engineers, designers and scientists — a lot of what they're known for was based on failure. We live in a society where we feel that we have to be perfect and you can't fail; we try to embrace the fact that it's OK to fail as long as you take a step back, break it down, figure out what went wrong and try again and build off that."
Besides Coomes and Overby, four peer mentors are helping out with the camp which Coomes believes all parties can benefit from.
"I think it's a good opportunity for them to really show and grow their leadership skills," she said, "and it's also good for the incoming students to be able to talk to ... current students and kind of get their perspective and make that (connection) so when they come to the first day of school, they have faces that they know and that they can trust."
Peter Gonzalez, one of the peer mentors, said he enjoys working with younger kids and found this to be a way to share his knowledge and be able to have both him and the students strive for personal achievements.
"For me, (I hope to gain) a sense of accomplishment and pride and I hope they feel the same way, too," he said.
Coomes finds that the camp can help prepare the students for more real-life experiences.
"I think this really lets them focus on what we call 21st century skills that they can transfer to the workplace," Coomes said. "They're learning to collaborate on a common goal, they're learning group communication, they will present their various projects (through) oral presentation, and it's problem solving skills; working together towards a common goal and trying to solve the problem."
While the goal of the program is to give students a chance to become involved in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), Coomes and Overby hope that it will help students become more acquainted and familiar with the school.
"I hope this kind of excites them about project-based learning, because that was our goal — is to offer this to incoming sixth graders to kind of give them a taste of what iMiddle is about, but then give a fun STEM activity for the summer," Coomes said.
