PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Children who participated in the week-long Camp Invention that ended Aug. 4 got their creative juices flowing and let their imaginations run wild while creating space themed inventions.
The University of Maine at Presque Isle played host to over 40 young campers from all over the state. Youngsters from first to sixth grades gained hands-on experience through problem solving and collaboration in the field of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
“We need to encourage more scientists and engineers and people that are interested in technology and math in our country, and this helps them think out of the box,” said camp director Elaine Hendrickson.
This is Hendrickson’s third year as director and she said she’s seen children come back each year and and even become camp helpers after they’ve “graduated.”
“I’ve seen growth in them and willingness to interact and to develop new ideas,” Hendrickson said.
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- Washburn 6th grader, Reilly McIntosh, gets creative with duct tape while participating in her second year at Camp Invention on Aug. 2 at the University of Maine at Presque Isle. (Joshua Archer)
This year’s camp theme was “launch,” an out of this world week-long brainstorming session that had kids preparing to blast off and venture where no child has gone before.
“They have to problem solve and think of different ways to do things and they also have to work with teams, which is very important in today’s society and tomorrow’s society,” Hendrickson said.
Campers designed duct tape products, made high-tech bubble blasters, grew crystal trees and built spy gadgets, and even had the opportunity to fire off real model rockets.
“I like this camp because you can do creative things, use your mind to create stuff that other people can see and try out,” said 5th grader Jack Schoenbaum of Cape Elizabeth.
Schoenbaum said he’s not quite sure what he wants to be when grows up, but that Camp Invention has put him on the path to become either an engineer or inventor.
This was Washburn 6th grader Reilly McIntosh’s second year attending the camp.
“I love science. I love seeing how things work and how engines work, how bikes move, things like that,” McIntosh said.
Hendrickson said Maine is ripe with future scientists and engineers just looking to stretch their creative muscles.
“If we can have an astronaut come from Caribou, we can certainly have great engineers come from this area, we can have scientists, they can do anything they want,” Hendrickson said, referring to astronaut Jessica Meir, who graduated from Caribou High School in 1995.
Camp Invention is a nationally recognized nonprofit summer enrichment camp, a program of the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Camp programs are taught by certified educators from the local community. For more information visit campinvention.org.
