Solving crimes, building rockets in the Summer Accelerator program

Rising fourth and fifth graders shuffled around a room at Appalachian State University’s North Carolina Center for Engineering Technologies campus in Hickory, chattering as they prepared parachutes for the rockets they’re building during a weeklong summer camp. Across the hall, middle schoolers watched as a forensic analyst explained the science behind examining a crime.

These are just two of the classes offered through the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics Summer Accelerator program, a day camp where students from the surrounding areas attend STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) courses led by local teachers at the App State campus in Hickory.

“We hope they’ve learned something unique, something that they don’t get in their schools,” said Gina Barrier, the NCSSM director of summer programs and extended partnerships. “A lot of schools can’t offer forensic science. A lot of schools don’t offer robotics. With those classes, we just hope to inspire STEM knowledge and feed that STEM pipeline.”

In the forensics class, five tubs were placed across a back table, labeled Murdered Mayor, The Impressions Kit, Finger Printing Kit, DNA Extraction Kit, and Blood Spatter Analysis.

At the front of the room, Karen Fox, a drug chemistry lab analyst, poured a liquid into red solo cups, explaining to the students that toxicology analyzes chemicals in the body, and that the testing related to DUIs (driving under the influence) is the most common type.

“They have a mock crime scene that they have to try to figure out,” Barrier explained. “They learned to run all these tests, and then the lady from the state is telling them about the equipment that they use versus what we’re using.”

In the rocketry course across the hall, the program’s most popular option, students build and launch their own rockets. At the end of the week, they take their rockets home.

“Word of mouth has gotten around that the rocket class is the one you need to sign up for,” Barrier said. “We’ve had some kids take it twice.”

Some of the six kids in the rocketry class worked alongside the teacher, tying strings around small pipes to create a parachute for their rockets.

Others worked alone or in pairs, laughing and talking while they applied glue and tied knots in their strings.

Each class is carefully designed by teachers who respond to a request for proposals from NCSSM earlier in the year, looking to teach more in-depth on topics they may not get to explore throughout the school year due to the pressures of testing and finances.

“They’re teachers that don’t just stand and lecture,” Barrier said. “If they don’t have a lot of materials, then (we’re) probably not gonna select them, because that tells me it’s more of a ‘sit-and-get’ type of course.”

The courses are offered in partnership with App State, which previously hosted a similar “Future Engineers” camp for elementary school students.

NCSSM expanded the age groups to include rising fifth and sixth graders among other grade levels, careful not to overlap ages with the university, which now offers the “Innovation Camps” at the Science Center in Hickory instead of on-site.

App State and NCSSM are technically sister campuses within the University of North Carolina system, and the courses help strengthen ties between the schools.

“These are students that are a little more interested and intrigued,” said Michael McNally, App State Hickory’s director of economic development and corporate engagement. “They get to go and pick these academically focused camps that they are interested in. It continuously engages them academically throughout the summer months.”

Even as program leaders entered the forensics classroom to explain the programs, students sat quietly at their tables, listening intently despite the approaching lunch hour and the summer weather just outside the window.