Walking through the classrooms at Engaging Creative Minds’ 2017 Summer STEAM Institute at Memminger Elementary, seeing the eager faces, the teamwork, the exciting activities, and hearing our kids explain with enthusiasm about the amazing projects on display, it’s simply hard to believe that it’s the last day of camp. It’s undeniable – these kids are in their element!
Everyone, from students to teachers, counselors to volunteers, has truly poured their heart and soul into this year’s effort, and it really showed today and all during our final week. Kudos to another amazing year at ECM’s Summer STEAM Institute, and our warmest thanks to everyone who took part in any way, even in simply making a donation to ECM in the last year and beyond. Summer always makes it easy to see why all the work is worthwhile!
As you can see from many of the shots on display here, our kids and teaching artists have been spending every minute on some pretty incredible projects and some very memorable demonstrations. Our final week’s Design, Animation, and Technology theme allowed returning students to put much of their accumulated knowledge to work, and also allowed first- or part-time campers to experience some of the absolute best that Summer STEAM has to offer.
From learning the principles and technical terms of animation through exciting dance-based games and activities, to crafting outlandish creatures from clay and using them to create original stop motion movies, and even using specialized softward to engineer a touch-reactive electronic musical instrument from basic electrical equipment, there was really no end to the wonders this week, proving it to be the ideal home stretch for our best camp season ever. Though science certainly rules alongside art at STEAM camp, it’s been true magic to see the kids engaging with their projects on such a deep level. They show us without a doubt that they’re coming away with new skills, a better understanding of the world, and some powerful tools to fuel their imaginations, but even more satisfying to see was the real pride that they expressed for their efforts. We hope this year’s Summer STEAM camp remains as fond a memory for all of our campers as it will for us!
We hope you’ll enjoy this gallery of shots from our last day of camp, and that you’ll take the time to enjoy some of our many photos and videos from the rest of the 2017 Summer STEAM Institute, currently featured on our Facebook page. Of course, we’re more ready than ever to jump back into the upcoming school year, and you can count on seeing plenty more news about upcoming activities and initiatives in the works for the Fall season. Keep an eye on us here and on Facebook for all of the necessary details, and best of luck going full STEAM ahead with the rest of your summer! Of course, we could never say enough that our most enthusiastic thanks and endless gratitude goes out to everyone who played any part in making this ECM’s best summer yet! WOOHOO!!
