BY BDN SPECIAL SECTIONS
Have you ever noticed that many kids’ have a natural propensity for engineering — from stacking blocks to building ramps for toy cars to creating towers out of sugar packets while waiting for breakfast at a restaurant. That inclination to build and design is not only cultivating fun and creativity, it helps kids develop problem solving and critical thinking skills.
Our state is known for training some of the best engineers in the world thanks to incredible college programs like those at the University of Maine in Orono, but there are also lots of local opportunities for young engineers-in-training. If you have a student with a particular interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), here are just a few of the local programs designed to help them learn and grow.
The Next Generation of Engineers
The University of Maine in Orono offers a variety of science and technology focused summer camps. Bear-Bots Robotics Camp summer camp, for example, is held in July at UMaine’s new Ferland Engineering Education and Design Center, which boasts a 10,000-square-foot biomedical engineering research lab suite, dozens of work spaces for 3D printing, electronics development, and more, plus teaching labs and meeting rooms.
The Bear-Bots camp focuses on building and programming a VEX V5 robot, encouraging middle school aged kids (rising 7-9 graders) to work in groups and problem solve. It’s also a chance to explore UMaine Engineering and learn from current students and faculty.
For older students, the UMaine Pulp & Paper Foundation offers a Consider Engineering camp three times throughout the month of July. The four-day overnight program consists of 34 high school students who have completed their junior year of study and are well-suited to becoming engineers. The camp is free of charge (a heads up that admission is competitive) and gives students opportunities to experience the rewards and challenges of both college life and technical careers. Students participate in about 20 activities and are introduced to nearly two dozen UMaine faculty, engineers, and engineering students. The application deadline for current high school juniors is April 15, 2025.
Wondering if camps like this really encourage students to consider engineering as a future career? Staff say some of UMaine’s engineering camps have almost 90 percent success in recruiting participants to college programs at UMaine or other universities.
For a more complete list of UMaine’s educational summer camp offerings, visit umaine.edu/summercamps/academic.
Up for a Challenge
The Challenger Learning Center in Bangor has been encouraging young makers and tech-curious kids since 2004. It’s one of 35 Challenge Learning Centers around the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia, all designed to foster local students’ interest in science, math, and technology. The organization was formed in response to the space shuttle Challenger explosion in 1986 as a way to memorialize the astronauts who were onboard and continue their educational mission – to learn, to explore, and to inspire.
Summer camps at Challenger Maine offer a unique experience that promotes group work, hands-on challenges, and deeper exploration and appreciation for STEM topics.
“Almost all our camp weeks have an element of engineering introduction for students,” said Kirsten Hibbard, Executive Director at Challenger Learning Center of Maine.
Camps include an Astronaut Academy (for students entering 5-8 grades), Robot Tech (for those entering grades 2-4), Camp Curious (for young campers entering grades 1-2), and more.
Through these Challenger Maine camps, kids explore spacecraft simulators, train like an astronaut, code Lego machines, and engineer arcade games. Challenger Maine even offers a Motion Makers Camp, working in collaboration with Bangor’s Cole Land Transportation Museum. Those campers get hands-on experience to learn about the science behind classic vehicles.
“It was an amazing opportunity to learn about STEM and transportation in coordination with Cole Transportation Museum,” said one parent whose 13-year-old attended the camp last summer. “He enjoyed the Lego robotic snow plow activity and the combustibles demo.”
For more information, visit astronaut.org/parents-public/camps/summer-camp.