NSF-Funded Summer Camps Encourage Minority Students

For Jack Weyland, a physics professor at Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho, summer has become the most rewarding season of the year. During his vacation, he spends several weeks teaching science classes to American Indian youngsters at a camp run by the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City, S.D. The camp is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation as part of a program launched in 1992. "There are a couple of reasons I do this," says Weyland, 53. "First, it's really exciting. It's a way for me get into their culture. "And there are some objective reasons for doing it. There's been a demographic shift in the country. There needs to be a larger percentage of minority students encouraged to go into science and engineering." Hoping to foster more interest in the sciences among United States youth in general, particularly among minorities, NSF funds an ambitious, nationwide program of summer science camps like the one in South Dakota. This year, 28 new grants were awarded to programs in Rapid City and here that will educate about 1,500 students in grades 7 through 9. "It has to do with the whole issue of systemic reform," says Roosevelt Calbert, NSF's division director for human resources development, which oversees the program. "We need to get kids started [studying science] as early as we can, and the summer is a very useful time of year to devote to this. "During the academic year, it [science] may be treated as a side issue." The program, he says, "builds up [the campers'] confidence" because they have more time to learn and become comfortable with the material, he says. "Our ultimate goal is to give these students preparation for high school and college, so that they get baccalaureate degrees in these fields." This year's grants went to colleges and universities, science museums, and public school districts. To make the summer programs possible, NSF awards each institution an average of $62,500 per year--over a three-year period--for running a four-week summer commuter camp. Residential camps, akin to recreational sleep-away programs, receive an average of $100,000 per year for three years. The summer science camp program aims to educate minority students entering seventh through ninth grades. Funding began last summer. The total budget for the program in the current fiscal year is $5.5 million. In some cases, participating institutions had previously initiated camps with other forms of aid, such as from the Department of Energy. For these camps, the added NSF funding has made it possible to expand the number of students or continue the program for more summers than originally expected. "When we started in 1991, we had 24 kids. This year, we'll have 51. And that's thanks to the NSF," says Dale Reed, a computer science instructor at Loyola University in Chicago. Reed is project director for an NSF-funded summer science camp sponsored by Loyola and held at Chicago's Clemente High School; the program is attended primarily by Latino youths. Reed notes that, while the majority of the campers speak Spanish at home, most of the classes are taught in English. In Loyola's case, finding interested students isn't a problem. Even though transportation isn't provided, this summer's program was completely booked after the camp was advertised in local public schools. "There's a lot of community contact that we use to get the word out," says Reed. One Chicago student who loved the Loyola program was Monique Diaz, who attended last summer, when she was going into eighth grade. "The counselors were great," Diaz says. "A lot of friends asked me about [the program], and I recommended it. Two of them are going this year." She adds that she found it useful to mention the program on her applications to private high schools, which asked for math and science experience. "I've always liked math and science," she says. "I learned there are many vast areas, and I'm interested in computers and genetics." Besides lessons in computer programming, building robotic devices, and designing computer chips, students in the Loyola program go on field trips to university labs. "It's probably one of the most powerful experiences they've ever had," says Reed. In addition to the educational experience, each student at the Loyola camp receives a $120 stipend for expenses while attending, and each earns one college credit upon successful completion of the summer lessons. Not every program, however, offers such perks. And it's up to each institution whether to charge any fees to defray certain expenses, although NSF's Calbert says the funding is designed to discourage the practice. "Our kids don't pay anything," says William L. White, associate dean of the School of Science and Technology at Jackson State University in Mississippi and an associate professor of mathematics who runs the summer science camp on the school's campus. "We look at it as an investment. We're trying to get underrepresented minority kids--which, in our case, usually means blacks--into the science pipeline. We think the quality of our students will be enhanced. It's nothing you can measure quantitatively, but after watching these kids mature and [seeing] what they've accomplished, you're just glowing with pride." While some of the NSF-funded camps focus solely on science programs, others include recreational activities as well. The Jackson State program, for example, supplements its science lessons with what White calls "motivational activities," such as Scrabble, chess, and volleyball. Each camp is required to be open to any member of a minority group; at most camps, however, youngsters of all races can apply to the programs. Camp directors contacted say their programs so far seem to be successfully attracting the targeted audiences. "We draw from the state's nine reservations," says Sara Mc-Culloh, who directs the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology camp. Exposing the youngsters to new settings clearly stimulates people such as Jack Weyland, who calls his class--one of several being offered in the South Dakota program this summer--"All the Physics You Can Learn From a Bicycle." In the course, he dismantles his bike and explains the functions of the various parts and how they interrelate. "By the time I'm done with the program, I really have affection for the students and see great potential in them," Weyland says. "It's like watching a quiet revolution take place. And we're both on foreign territory, because we're all really learning about each other. "In the end, it's a way to give back and give a gift to the future. One of the tribal leaders put it best: The warriors today are the ones who get a good education." For more information, contact NSF's Division of Human Resource Development, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Room 815, Arlington, Va. 22230; (703) 306-1640. Fax: (703) 306-0423. The deadline for summer 1995 camp proposals is October 15. Edward R. Silverman is a freelance writer based in Millburn, N.J.

NSF-Funded Summer Camps Encourage Minority Students

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July 1994

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