Saint John the Baptist Elementary nurtures innovation and creativity at 'Camp Invention'

Friday, Jul. 29, 2016

 By Nevah Stevenson

DRAPER — It was full “STEMS” ahead for campers at Saint John the Baptist Elementary as the school kicked off “Camp Invention” the first week of June.

The week-long summer enrichment camp is a part of a national program designed to hone students’ critical thinking skills through science, technology, engineering and math. With support from the United States Patent and Trademark Office and the National Inventors Hall of Fame, the program nurtures innovation and creativity.  

Campers arrived the first day with an appliance from home that they disassembled and reconstructed in the I Can Invent: Maker Studio™.  

In the Epic Park™ unit, campers worked in teams to design an eco-friendly adventure park. Additional units had the young inventors immersed in the science of slime, electronic sound and coding.

Camp organizers, Saint John the Baptist Elementary Assistant Principal Cynthia Burchett and teacher Allison Garstka praised the program.  

“It’s a teacher’s dream to see 100+ kids having fun learning,” Garstka said.

“It’s hands on and very interactive,” Burchett said. “Students were asked to create and imagine what they could do to develop prototype inventions for real-world concerns.”  

That challenge fueled discussions on clean water, waste disposal and even life-saving devices.  

Burchett also praised the volunteers.  “We had parent volunteers from engineering jobs whose companies allowed them to volunteer during the work day. They were able to help students explore concepts and interact with materials that they might otherwise never have the opportunity to discover,” she said. 

Camp Invention made an indelible impression on 2nd-grader Coraline Lee, who converted her home art studio to an inventor’s workshop when the camp concluded.  

“Our daughter is naturally a very creative person,” Erika Doty Lee said. “But when you see that, you think arts and crafts. Camp Invention was the marriage of science and math with her creativity. Because of this, her brain stretched in ways she never knew possible.”  

Lee added that the best part is that her daughter is “learning how to fail and that failure plays an important role in inventing, in art, in science … in life.”

This was the second Camp Invention for Saint John the Baptist Elementary. Camp Invention programs are held in nearly 1,400 locations nationwide each year.  

Stevenson is director of advancement for St. John the Baptist Schools.