Lexington STEM Summer Camps add new Summer Camp programs

Empow Studios adds to its Lexington summer camp offerings

Lexington, MA – It’s been a year of expansion and new opportunities at Empow Studios, making for an exciting summer of learning at the Lexington studio and at Empow’s other summer and vacation camp locations, including the new studio in Newton.

“We’re excited to increase our summer and school vacation offerings and give local families additional options in 2019,” notes Empow’s Executive Director of Marketing Dave Gutierrez. “In Lexington, in addition to our Tech & Design and Minecraft Camps, we have added extra weeks for our Girls STEM Camp and Java Coding Camp.”

The week-long summer STEM camps are geared towards students ages 7-14 and focus on subjects ranging from robotics, 3D printing and coding to stop-motion animation, architectural design, and audio engineering. Campers complete collaborative challenges throughout the week, earning achievement badges that level up from white belt to black belt, and go home with project files to be shared with family and friends.

Each summer camps often have a waiting list. The Girls STEM Camp and Java Coding camps have been expanded to keep up with a growing demand.

“While at Java Coding Camp, students will learn the fundamentals of programming and apply them immediately, making fun gaming and simulation projects and solving challenging problems,” says Empow educator and IT & Support Manager Theo Swartz. “By the end of the week, we will have explored such topics as syntax, readability, efficiency, debugging, testing, and code review. At allotted times, students test each others projects, which lets them learn how to give and receive useful, constructive feedback and have fun playing the games that they made at the same time.”

Ultimately, the camps allow students to build knowledge and forge friendships. Along these line, the Girls STEM Camp has been popular, and encourages girls to really delve into coding and engineering. This camp was inspired and initiated because studies show girls have high scores in early science tests. Yet they remain underrepresented in the engineering and science workforce, with some of the largest disparities in engineering and computer science. The goal of the Girls STEM Camp is to reinforce and expand interest in these fields by having the girls, led by encouraging teachers, explore art, coding, and engineering through projects in animation, robotics, 3D modeling, fashion, and design.

“Having role models around you makes all the difference,” notes Director of Empow’s Newton studio Michelle Meyer, who has previously led the Girls STEAM Club at Empow Studios in Lexington and led the first Girls STEM Camp. The camp is open to girls entering grades 2 through 8. No prior tech experience is required.

In addition to extra Java Coding and Girls STEM Camp weeks, summer and vacation offerings also include the consistently popular Tech & Design Camp, which features robotics, 2D & 3D video game design, animation, Scratch programming, coding, 3D modeling & printing, audio engineering, digital music, and video production, and Minecraft Camp, which delves into the educational aspects of Minecraft, such as learning modding, electrical engineering (via redstone circuits), architecture, game design, and world creation.

Empow Studios Summer Camp – Lexington

Location: Empow Studios, 1776 Massachusetts Avenue, Lexington, MA 02420
Dates: February & April vacation (Weeks starting: 2/18, 4/15); Summer Camps: running each week through summer vacation
Details: Camp runs 9:00am-4:00pm. Early drop-off starts at 8:30am (no additional charge) and an extended day until 5:30pm is available for a $20/day additional charge.
Cost: Half Day $365/wk; Full day $645/wk (Java Coding Camp: Full day $695/wk)
To Register: Visit the Lexington Camp page

For more information about all of Empow Studios’ locations and programs, including classes, clubs and outreach efforts, visit: www.empow.me or find us on Facebook.

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