Published June 16, 2022

Messy Spectacular Science, Build a Boat and Spa Science, these are just some of the classes offered at this year’s STEM camps at Wheeling High School. Young learners in the community, ranging from first through eighth graders, were fully immersed in science and technology in this week-long summer camp.

This year, camp organizers launched new Coding and Graphic Arts courses for middle school students.

"We’re trying to get kids excited at that older level to then think about the courses offered at Wheeling. What about the robotics course, what about Project Lead the Way, what about Principles of Engineering? We want to get them excited about those programs,” said Bruce French, the division head of math and science at Wheeling High School.

Fifteen Wheeling High School students also worked as mentors. French said many of them attended STEM camp as kids and it was exciting for them to work with the children.

"The reason why I love science and math is because I saw older kids and all these cool things being taught,” said Lauren Ruan, a senior at Wheeling High School. “I hope that by mentoring these kids, I can show them that you can do anything, especially as a female in STEM. You can learn and grow and develop so many cool things and really better the world.”

The Wheeling High School STEM camp program runs every summer and is open to any student regardless of financial status. Click here for more information or contact Bruce French at bruce.french@d214.org.