This year Florida International University School of Computing and Information Sciences, in conjunction with the STEM Transformation Institute hosted the Verizon Innovative Learning summer STEM camp for minority middle school boys for the second year. In attendance were 53 boys returning from six Miami-Dade County Schools (Jorge Mas Canosa, John F. Kennedy, MA Milam, Kinloch Park, West Miami, and Norland). During the camp, we reminded the boys that they embody and possess the engineering habits of mind to be successful in STEM fields and re-exposed them to the engineering design process and programming principles. They took these reminders and showcased them through their VEX robotics creations. The camp culminated in a VEX robotics competition and engineering design challenge judged by local Verizon engineers. We were also fortunate enough to host Miami’s very own Captain Barrington Irving and his flying classroom, where the students were able to fly drones through an obstacle course and program Sphero robots. Through experiential learning and inspirational student-mentors, we hope we inspired another generation of computing professionals and engineers.
Written by Monique Ross
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