During the first week of August, 56 rising seventh and eighth grade students from聽South King County聽spent a few days living in the residence halls on the 91探花 campus and learning about engineering聽and mathematics.
But it wasn鈥檛 just your average summer camp.
These students were a part of the Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity鈥檚 new聽聽partnership, a聽seven-year聽grant holding its first-ever聽on-campus summer program聽since聽谤别肠别颈惫颈苍驳听颈迟蝉听蹿耻苍诲颈苍驳聽last October.
This Early Engineering Institute聽(EEI) was hosted in partnership with the聽.聽During the institute,聽low-income and first-generation聽students聽from Renton, Tukwila, and Auburn School Districts聽had聽the聽opportunity to engage in a variety of STEM-focused activities, as well as connect with current 91探花engineering students聽from similar backgrounds.
鈥淭his was our first聽immersive,聽on-campus program聽for the聽 91探花GEAR UP Achievers program,鈥� said Director聽Roslyn Kagy.聽鈥淚t was a great example of聽collaboration between the College of Engineering and the Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity,聽and聽special to see聽all聽hands on聽deck. All of our staff members were present and engaged with the students in the residence halls, at meal times and in the classrooms. It was great to witness the potential impact this program will have on students, as well as see聽them so inspired and excited.鈥�
GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness & Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) is part of a national effort to help students from low-income families prepare for and succeed in higher education.聽It begins serving students at the sixth or seventh grade level聽and follows them聽through their first year of college.
OMA&D is deepening its聽college access聽work in South King County with the addition of GEAR聽UP Achievers, which聽serves聽over 4,300 students in聽the聽Renton, Kent, Auburn and Tukwila聽school districts. Its focus is to strengthen聽college pathways in STEM. OMA&D also has聽a聽GEAR UP grant (RISE UP/SKY聽GEAR UP) that聽works聽with school districts聽and partners in the Yakima and Skagit Valleys.
Among the activities that took place聽during The Early Engineering Institute聽was a collaboration with the聽McCarty聽Innovation and Learning Lab聽(The MILL). For two days, students worked in small groups to build 鈥済ravity cars,鈥� which they adapted after collecting data from various testing.
91探花engineering undergraduate students Kyle Johnson and Vicente Arroyos worked with students on a 鈥淏all-Drop鈥� activity during which they learned how to program a sensor to measure pressure and download聽data to calculate altitude. Students also had the opportunity to experience life as a college student: living in the dorms for four days and three nights, eating in the聽dining halls and accessing many of the on-campus resources at the UW.
The institute culminated with a Closing Lunch at the Husky Union Building Lyceum that was attended by over 100聽family members and 91探花staff and students. During the lunch, students gave PowerPoint presentations on their week of learning.
GEAR UP Site Coordinator Jennifer Young, who works at聽Olympic Middle聽School in聽Auburn School District, said that since the Early聽Engineering聽Institute took place聽鈥淚鈥檝e seen a noticeable聽difference聽in the confidence and excitement聽of聽the students who attended. They proudly wear their t-shirts and share about their experience at camp.鈥�
