The ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Summer Science Camps (EMBHSSC) are 10-day residential camps hosted at colleges and universities across the nation. In June 2015, The Harris Foundation (THF), in partnership with the ExxonMobil Foundation, will sponsor a camp on the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. This camp will provide 48 promising middle school grade level students the opportunity to enhance their proficiency in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education while living 10 days on a college campus - all at no cost to the child or family.
The successful landing of the NASA Mars Rover Curiosity has captured the nation’s attention and provides an excellent opportunity to stimulate student interest in STEM careers. Students in this camp will use science, technology, engineering, and math to understand the daunting challenges that the Curiosity engineering team overcame to achieve the greatest technological feat of the 21st century. Students will also understand the engineering challenges involved in setting our sights higher: the human colonization of Mars.
This is an outstanding opportunity for underserved middle school students to experience the thrill of STEM learning and problem solving in an engaging and hands-on way through activities, experiments, projects, and field experiences centered on the theme of Mars exploration and colonization. Each day, campers will attend classes incorporating biology, chemistry, physics, environmental sciences, earth sciences, engineering, technology, design concepts, and field excursions around this theme. Certified classroom teachers and university faculty will teach all classes. Character development and team work, necessary for successful STEM careers, will also be infused throughout the camp activities and will include motivational guest speakers, including Jim Riley, former astronaut.
The core STEM curriculum is integrated with field excursions and other educational experiences that enrich students’ understanding of the practical relationships between classroom work and the real world. Communication and teamwork are integral parts of the students’ camp experience. Evening counseling sessions provide opportunities for discussion of students’ academic, career and social issues. Students engage in an array of extracurricular activities during the non-class time.
Each campsite will have 50% female and 50% male participants representing each targeted grade level. Through its innovative, student-centered, inquiry-based curriculum, campers will complete a minimum of 54 hours of advanced STEM study taught by highly qualified educators from area school districts and university faculty.
Student Selection Criteria
To be eligible to apply, students should:
• Be members of a traditionally underserved and underrepresented population;
• Be entering 6th, 7th or 8th grade in the fall of 2015;
• Have a GPA of at least "B" overall in mathematics and science;
• Score at the median to superior level on standardized mathematics and science tests;
• Write a 250-word essay describing their interest in the camp and STEM;
• Be interviewed, if deemed necessary;
• Have exhibited an interest in mathematics and science; and
• Have strong recommendations from their current mathematics and science teachers
• Have not attended an Exxon Mobil Bernard Harris Summer Science Camp in the past.
ExxonMobil is proud to announce the 2015 ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Summer Science Camp at UCCS. Application Deadline April 27, 2015.
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