ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Summer Science Camp

Central State University

Jun 16, 2008
ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Summer Science Camp
By

EXXONMOBIL

BERNARD HARRIS

SUMMER SCIENCE CAMP

CLICK ON PICTURES TO ENLARGE

DAYS ONE AND TWO

On Sunday, June 15, 2008 48 students and their parents arrived on our campus to participate in the ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Summer Science on the campus of Central State University. Both the parents and the children were excited to be on a college campus to learn math, science, technology, engineering, communication and other subjects. These were the students chosen from the many applications to attend this prestigious program designed and funded by the Bernard Harris Foundation and supported by the ExxonMobil Foundation. Central State is one of the 25 camps in the nation for 5^th, 6^th, and 7^th graders high achieving in math and science.

The first day was spent getting to know the rules of the camp, the counselors, and where they were going to reside for the next two weeks. The camp director is Ms Deborah Omolewu, a Central State University graduate from the College of Education. Her role was to greet the parents and make them feel comfortable in leaving their students here. For many of the parents this was the first time their child had been away from home, so there were many tearful goodbye scenes.

After the students settled in their rooms, and the orientation was completed, the group with the parents went to the Student Center and had a Welcome Dinner. At that time the Video Welcome was played that showed the camp founder, former Astronaut, Dr. Bernard Harris. The theme of his video was "You Can Do It." Mr. Phil Coates, the Program Coordinator for the Institute of Urban Education, stated how important the camp is to the future of America, "because we need all of you in this room to replace the scientist and engineers that are retiring." He then introduced the Executive Director of the Institute, Dr. Kaye Manson Jeter. It was the Institute that wrote the grant that allowed the university to be awarded the grant for this program. Her role was to again let the parents know, the university has great experience with camps for children. She stated, "it was because of this we were given this opportunity to help younger children." The past camps had been for high school students only.

Dr. Jeter then introduced Ms. Lorie Jackson as the representative for ExxonMobil. Her speech shared with the student the vast amount of technology that is needed for this company and why these students need to be involved early in learning how to become scientist.

At the end of the day the students had a session with Stafford Bradford and Kent Wallace from the Guaranteed A+Plus program out of Dallas, Texas. They learned about learning how to learn skills and how to make entries in their journals.

Director Debbie

Registration

DAY TWO

The day started with breakfast and a lesson on Nutrition. In the morning they had their first ecology and community conservation lesson. Mr. Edmonds their teacher explained terms and discussed their preparation for a field experience on Wednesday to Tawawa Springs. Safety was an issue of importance.

The students then were given a problem that they had to develop a hypothesis relating to the strength of columns in different shapes. They were given index cards and the four groups were to predict whether columns, circles, or triangles were stronger.

Science "101"

DAY TWO AFTERNOON AND EVENING

The afternoon of day two was spent learning about math and preparing for building something out of Lego’s that moves and works.

Each day the students do some activities with team building in mind. This is an important skill for our future scientist. They were given the assignment to write a song about love and then sing it as a team. It was hilarious.

After a short lunch break Dr. Kimberly Kendricks began teaching the students about robotics such as how they worked and what they did. She taught them how the parts worked like how some had touch reactors and could see light refractions. The children also got to handle the parts and personally see how they worked which they seemed to enjoy. After handling these parts they wrote out what they wanted them to do while learning how to program them. What they have to do is get the robot through a tunnel and push a button while meeting requirements in size and shape. After learning how to do everything the kids were separated into a 6^th grade, 7^th grade, and 8^th grade division with two teams in each division the kids were extremely eager to compete with one another. Afterwards they were given a 30 minute break.

After the break they were introduced to Kent Wallace, head of the Physic department at Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn. Dr. Wallace talked to the students about physics and rockets. Dr. Wallace demonstrated the principles of static electricity using a static generator. This allowed students a firsthand opportunity to experiment with static electricity. Afterward, a short discussion on rockets was completed and the students were given water rockets to see which team could launch their rocket the highest.

I went on campus last night and inspected the living accommodations and the safety features. The directors and counselors had it under complete control. The night guards were on duty, doors were securely locked and it was very quiet. There are also security cameras in the halls.

Sincerely,

Dr. Kaye Jeter

DAY THREE MORNING

Today they went on a walking tour to the site of the investigation at Tawawa Springs. See http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM1GY0

Tawawa Springs Visit

Tawawa Springs Visit

Tawawa Springs Visit

Tawawa Springs Visit

DAY TWO AFTERNOON AND EVENING

and DAY THREE

The purpose of the afternoon was to meet and assign team members to the various parts of building a robot. There were mechanical parts all over the lecture hall, but they were neatly arranged in organizers by the students.

The next class was to learn about the life of Dr. Bernard Harris, the founder of this summer camp. The counselors lead the teams in performing skits and choral readings about his life. By the time each group finished, I was convinced that the students would know and understand the former astronaut that will be visiting us tomorrow on our campus. Today there was an article about the camp in the Dayton Daily News. http://www.daytondailynews.com/search/content/oh/story/opinions/columns/2008/06/17/ddn061808cummings.html

Last night there was preparation for the talent show. We cannot wait until the weekend when the students display their talents. Prior to practice, they had team sports. I saw both girls and boys playing some serious kickball as a team. In addition there was a group doing the hula-hoop. Some of them were able to keep in motion more than one or two.

DAY THREE MORNING AND AFTERNOON

The busses pulled out early this morning to take the students on a field experience. They were taken to the local Air Force Museum. We will have pictures on tomorrow. Today they each received a new tee shirt to wear on the field trip. Yesterday, they received their book packs.

In addition, they attended the place where they have a WORM FARM. Yes there is a worm farm on the base and they learned about composting and recycling.

The evening will include more information and preparation for the events tomorrow with Dr. Bernard Harris coming to our campus. The students will be photographed and televised doing a Raft Rally. There are some good prizes at stake for the team that can build a raft that can hold the most of something. Well more to follow on that tomorrow.

Dr. Kaye Jeter