The future of Camp Invention at Gateway High School was in question after James Pottinger stepped down as director after the 2022 session.
“I saw how the kids didn’t want camp to end. They loved it so much,” Chris Jordan, a camp instructor at the time, said. “And I thought, I need to do this for them.”
She took over as director for this year’s program, held the week of June 12 for students entering kindergarten through sixth grade.
“It’s just such a well-established program that it almost runs itself,” she said. “It’s a lot of the kids doing the work, and we’re just there to help them out.”
Offered through the National Inventors Hall of Fame, Camp Invention provides opportunities for students to continue learning over summer break, specializing in the STEM subjects: science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Jordan teaches kindergarten at Dr. Cleveland Steward Jr. Elementary School, as do Courtney Kozel and Kylie Narehood, who served as camp instructors this year. Other Gateway faculty members filling the role were Evergreen Elementary fourth-grade teacher Joy Mattis and high school biology teacher Amy Miller.
Some high school students spent the week assisting with the proceedings, including Cara Moriarty.
“I was a camper in fifth and sixth grade, and I really liked it, so I decided to try to come back as what’s called a leader in training. That means you’re kind of in between leader and helper,” she said. “I learned to help the kids out, and I really liked that, too.”
So she took the next step, volunteering this year as a leadership intern in a program offered for high school and college students.
Salma Mukhtar is another Camp Invention alumna.
“Ever since then, I’ve come back and kept helping,” she said. “I really loved doing all the different activities you get to do. You learn a lot, and you have a lot of fun.”
She, too, served as a leader in training prior to becoming a leadership intern.
“It’s been so cool, because I get to actually be in charge of the kids, and I get to help them all do their stuff. I just love seeing their faces light up when they get to bring their ideas into real life,” Salma said. “I remember what I was doing when I was their age, and how I got so excited.”
Her interest in science-related topics extends to her membership in the high school’s Quasics Robotics Club, which advanced to the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics international championship in April.
For Quasics teammate Baylee Blanton, this year represented her first Camp Invention experience. She saw a flier posted in a high school hallway, asked about the program and learned about its emphasis on STEM.
“I was like, sign me up!” she said. “Shaping the young minds and getting them interested in it, I’m all here for it.”
She enjoyed her week as a leadership intern.
“I can definitely see myself in those little kids,” Baylee said. “They really are engaged in everything they’re learning about, and they’re so curious, too. They just ask so many questions.
“Very creative, also. Their minds are just, wow, how they think of stuff at such a young age.”
Visit invent.org/camp2024 to preregister for next year and save $50 with the code CAMP2024.
Harry Funk is a Tribune-Review news editor. You can contact Harry at hfunk@triblive.com.
A week of ‘Wonder'
For 2023, Camp Invention features the theme "Wonder," with four creative experiences for students:
• Catching Air. Taking a confidence-building ride through physics, engineering and art, children design and build their own skate park.
• Pop Up Venture. Building their entrepreneurship skills, campers learn how to make strong financial decisions as they use startup funds and develop creative marketing strategies to attract customers and achieve their business goals.
• Invention Celebration. Campers take on the role of event planners as they throw a party celebrating creativity and innovation, exploring the science of color with bubble art banners and experimenting with sound vibrations as they make their own musical instruments.
• Mimic-Bot. Children transform a robot that mimics sounds into a one-of-a-kind animatronic stuffed animal, while learning about intellectual property to protect their creations from the idea-stealing Copy Cat.