NCSSM Morganton bustles with summer learning and innovation programs

The school year may have ended, but Morganton’s NCSSM campus is alive with activity as it hosts a variety of summer programs.

Early Accelerator is a day camp for rising fifth and sixth graders. Summer Accelerator is a residential program for rising seventh graders to rising seniors. Both week-long camps will run now through July 26.

During the first week, 57 students moved in for the residential program, and 100 are set to move in next week for the second session. More than just a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) camp, Summer Accelerator offers students recreational activities like roller skating, swimming, and outdoor trail and park visits.

Gina Barrier, director of summer programs, says by offering free STEM experiences NCSSM-Morganton can reach students in school districts that have less bandwidth for STEM programming.

“It gives them a leg up to apply to our school or a university or college … or when they’re applying for scholarships,” said Barrier.

Here is a sampling of classes students are engaged in this summer.

Design, Code, Build

This week, Early Accelerators (rising fifth and sixth graders) designed and coded robots in Blaire Miller’s Design, Code, Build class.

“We have the most complicated robot,” said Sebastian Laney, a fifth grader in the program. “Ours took two hours to make.”

Students first designed a robot and then coded it to follow prompts. Students decorated posters with unique mazes, drawn with a black marker for robots to follow. Afterward, they designed codes in Java and Blockly.

“Robots have light detection — they follow the black lines,” said Miller.

Students in class demonstrated their robot’s ability, with some codes containing prompts for robots to make noises and play music. When robots encountered a turn in the maze, students code the degree of their turns — some 180-degree turns, others 360-degree turns.

Miller says the goal is for students to learn and apply code and create 3D obstacles.

Discovering the Art of Mathematics

In another room in Goodwin Hall, students in the Discovering the Art of Mathematics class learned to create stained glass with parallel and perpendicular lines and the fundamentals of shapes, angles, and lines while creating a barn quilt.

“We made the circles, and we figured out the radius and diameter. We did the area and the circumference. We cut them into pieces, and we got to make designs out of them,” said Lilly, a student in the Early Accelerator (rising fifth and sixth grade) class.

Tonya Scott, instructor for the class, says the students will learn about scales this week and they’re set to go into Downtown Morganton to look at murals and public art.

Lego Robotics

This week’s Lego Robotics class is a part of the residential program taught by Jeff Brown. Brown puts students in groups of two and they have to create a Lego robot that will compete on the national competition board, which lays out paths for the robots to follow and skills that need to be completed.

“This board is actually the national competition board. The goal is, from scratch, they have to build a robot to do a bunch of things on that board. They get two and a half minutes to have the robot do as many things as they can,” said Brown.

Brown says students in his class learn teamwork, problem-solving, and versatility.

“... and it’s fun so it doesn’t feel overwhelming,” said Brown.

Environmental Exploration

In the Environmental Exploration class taught by Sarah Maveety, students learned about species diversity and measuring the diversity of grass.

One of the students explained the equations the class was working on.

“We’re doing species diversity, meaning, how many different species of trees are in the area, and for them, we’re calculating what percent of each species the trees are from," she said.

Earlier that day, students visited Lake James and hiked while discovering different species of plants.

Exploration of Genealogy

Taught by Rachel Hillyer, students are learning about gel electric freezes, a tool that helps visualize DNA. The tool runs an electric current that separates DNA.

“Tomorrow we will visualize DNA that the company has provided us with… synthetic DNA,” said Hillyer.

Hillyer says students will have an upcoming assignment to identify genes associated with circadian rhythm. Circadian rhythms are the body’s natural clocks that regulate sleep, hunger, hormones, and more.

Biotechnology

Students' hands shot up with questions in Jennifer Allsbrook’s high school class. The class dove deeper into gene therapy and how genes affect Alzheimer's disease.

Program Cost

The Summer Accelerator Program starts at $350 for Early Accelerators (rising fifth and sixth graders) and the Accelerator (rising seventh through 12th graders) ranges from $495 -$1,925 depending on virtual or residential programs.

“These programs are fee-based, but we have a lot of organizations that will sponsor students through scholarships,” said Barrier.

Barrier mentioned Rotary Clubs and Chambers of Commerce in surrounding counties have sponsored scholarships for students in the summer program and the desire for students who live in Morganton to have the opportunity to be sponsored.

At Morganton’s Rotary Club lunch meeting on Wednesday, June 12, Josh Blackburn, assistant director of Summer Programs at NCSSM-Morganton, spoke to the club about the Summer Accelerator program. Blackburn mentioned several organizations that sponsor scholarships for students.

During the Q&A session, Rotary member Waits Gordon asked, “How can we (Morganton Rotary Club) help?”

Blackburn answered, “I think the Morganton Rotary Club can help by sponsoring scholarships for kids for our summer program.”

“Scaffolding a scholarship opportunity through Rotary would be amazing. I would like to see Rotary choose students who you deem the need is there,” he continued. “And I would be happy to help you present that in schools so that counselors and people who know kids who have a need would be able to apply.”

For more information on NCSSM-Morganton’s summer programs, visit https://www.ncssm.edu/summer.