By Lauren Johnson

Students at Troy Universities ‘Power Up with Stem’ Camp this week enjoy learning, creating, and building. From Monday until Friday, the kids are working on building a city of their own.

They have learned about different ways to power a city including solar power, wind power, hydropower, and more. During the camp, they are incorporating these different energy sources in the designs of their own hand-crafted cities.

“I like the different things we get to do like science, building, learning sign language and teamwork,” said Brooklyn Moran, one of the campers. “I’m glad that we aren’t just reading about stuff, but that we are actually doing it.”

Moran loves the hands-on aspect, and her favorite part is using the robots. “We get to color coat on the bottom and once the robot traces that code it does different things.”

Aaliyan Agboatwala, another camper, explains how fun this camp is to her. She loves coding, making solar panels, working with friends, and creating and naming the cities. “It’s fun to get to do and see a lot of different things.”

One of the camps sponsors, South Alabama Electric Cooperative, came to campus yesterday to talk with the students, give demonstrations, and show them materials and equipment they use on the job.

Jessica Moran, Lecturer Department of Teacher Education, believes that the children will benefit from and have fun with everything this camp has to offer. She has been helping make improvements to this camp, which includes environmental science, math, robotics, and more.

Another addition this camp provides for the students is to learn American Sign Language. The kids rotate through the different sessions, and when they come to the classroom for ASL, Dr. Cerney and Judy Robertson, who are both ASL professors at the college, teach them how to communicate using sign language.

Dr. Dionne Rosser-Mims, the Dean for the College of Education, explains that next year they hope to expand the camp even more by offering art classes, and they also hope to connect with other colleges.

“Power Up with Stem Camp is a great way to expose students to the wonderful world of being a teacher,” Rosser-Mims said. “We’re planting the seed of possibilities of where they can go and what they can be.”

Rosser-Mims is very excited for these young kids and loves seeing the passion they have for learning. She complements her faculty saying they are the absolute best and they have a passion to instill the importance of education in the students.