Summer Academic Enrichment Eligible Programs

Goals

The goals and objectives for students attending the Junior Achievement STEM Camp include: - Learn how to run, promote, and manage a successful business at JA BizTown - Create project plans, science experiments, and video commercials - Discover how STEM is used in the workplace and in business - Discover STEM careers through meetings and presentations from business professionals - See how the money you earn works in the JA BizTown economy

Please note, JA Summer camps were not hosted in 2021, but we have a strong history of providing these programs from previous years. All summer camp curriculum is based on the successes of previous year.

Activities

JA Summer Camps run for one-week sessions where students work to run a business and “work” in JA BizTown. Summer Camps occur in JA BizTown, a 12,000 square foot simulated city located at our state-of-the-art facility in St. Paul. With the support of JA staff, JA student mentors, and professional and corporate volunteers, students learn through interdisciplinary lessons. Specific camp activities and volunteers are identified beginning in March with individual and group volunteers confirmed by May.

Past JA STEM Camps have included the following activities: - Campers compete in the Creative Toy Challenge, giving them an opportunity to learn about business costs, human resources, and pricing to make a profit. Student teams create a commercial to advertise their toy prototype. - Campers make (and eat) real ice cream by teaching them colligative properties, create edible molecules using gumdrops, learn about chromatography through a M&M experiment, and discover capillary action through a flower project. - Campers learn how to film stop-action video commercials to promote their JA BizTown business. - Campers use uncooked pasta to engineer a soap box derby car. They transform potential energy into kinetic energy as they race against other teams down the STEM ramp! - There are discussions about the environmental impact of the BP Oil Spill. Campers work together to clean oil out of duck feathers. They also learn about skimming, dispersing, and soaking up oil in tanks of water before learning about innovated new ways to clean up ocean spills. - Campers learn about the global water crisis and about how to take action to provide funds for water, sanitation, and hygiene education globally. Campers use new innovative tablets to clean dirty water samples, making them suitable for drinking!

JA STEM Camp is interdisciplinary (English, Language Arts, Social Studies, Math, and Science).

Program Dates

JA STEM Camp will be offered June 20 – 24, 2022. This is a one-week session.

Can students reside on campus? No

Can students commute to campus? Yes

Can students take online classes? No