While many of their peers attend athletic camps this summer to prepare for fall sports, students enrolled in two Front Range public schools will attend academic skills camps to prepare themselves for the study of engineering.
More than 60 ninth-graders entering the Centaurus Pre-Engineering Academy and the new Denver School of Science and Technology this fall will get an introduction to the creativity and challenges in engineering through weeklong workshops presented by the Integrated Teaching and Learning Program at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
The ITL workshops, called "Creative Engineering -- Go for It!" will be offered June 21 through 25 at Centaurus High School in Lafayette, and July 19 through 23 at the Community College of Aurora, Lowry Campus. Almost half of the students starting the two high school engineering and technology programs this fall will attend the summer workshops, which run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day and cost only $35 to register.
"We're offering an experience that will knit these students to each other and to the engineering profession," said Jackie Sullivan, co-director of the ITL Program and a partner in both the Centaurus Pre-Engineering Academy and the Denver School of Science and Technology. "They'll get to see that engineering is fundamentally a creative endeavor, about creating new things for the benefit of society."
Participants in the workshop will learn everything they need to know to create a futuristic building model that incorporates reusable or recycled materials and can be remotely operated by a laptop computer. The hands-on, team-based workshop will serve as an introduction to a high school curriculum in which students will apply math and science skills to solving real-world problems.
The Denver School of Science and Technology is a new public charter school that will open this fall with 125 ninth-graders and expand each year to eventually become a four-year high school. Construction of a new building, funded extensively by foundation and private donations, is expected to be completed at Stapleton in late fall.
The Centaurus Pre-Engineering Academy has been in operation since 2002 as part of the Boulder Valley School District and enrolls many students coming out of the "Gateway to Technology" program at Angevine Middle School. The ITL workshop aims to strengthen the connection between the middle school and high school programs by offering students a transitional experience.
The Denver School of Science and Technology and the Centaurus Pre-Engineering Academy both draw a diverse range of students, including many students from low-income families, and offer them a competitive advantage when applying to college.
For more information call (303) 492-5230.