A Full Class Line-up for Week 8!

It’s hard to believe we are already in the final week of summer camp! Wayne has a fantastic line-up of classes with four in each session. Kicking off our morning, we have Escape Rooms and Scavenger Hunts, Cybersecurity and Cryptography, Shockingly Sticky Science, and Investing and the Stock Market. Our afternoon is jam-packed with NASA: Journey to Outer Space, AI Tools, Financial Literacy, and War and Peace Games. Curious about what each class is doing? Let’s find out!

Escape Rooms and Scavenger Hunts have been getting TONS of practice designing their own scavenger hunts and testing them out on the other classes. They have also started delving into the world of escape rooms, including a pirate-themed one from today! It takes a lot of teamwork to escape, but they are getting really good at thinking outside the box (literally and figuratively!).

A new class this year is Cybersecurity and Cryptography. They have been learning about different kinds of ciphers, like the complex Caesar Cipher and Affinee Cipher, as well as practicing decoding them. Today, they combined their knowledge of ciphers with an exploration of Two-Factor Authentication and security tokens that keep our digital information secure.

Shockingly Sticky Science has been exploring all things sticky. They got marker ink to “stick” to filter paper with chromatography, have made a few different types of slime, explored how atoms stick together to form molecules, made their own “thermometers” to show how water is sticky, and even used static electricity to stick feathers on balloons! It’s amazing how many things are sticky, when you really think about it.

The Stock Market class has had some great discussions about inflation, investment strategies, brokers, and had a fun time watching the current stock market. While doing this they recognized and identified patterns within the market. They also got to “purchase” their own stocks; Apple, Roblox, and Nike were some of the more popular choices.

The NASA: Journey to Outer Space class had an awesome time building and decorating model rockets to kick off their space journey. They also had fun making cosmic slime (which they were able to bring home), identifying constellations, and learning about the moon. The highlight so far has got to be seeing the partial solar eclipse today in real time using a paper with a pinhole – the timing truly could not have been better!!

The AI Tools class has been learning about what AI actually is, how it can be used responsibly, and have tested out many different AI platforms. The campers have explored using artificial intelligence to create music, images in different styles, and even bringing the images to life with movement! One student used the tools in class to make a new background for their phone using AI!

Financial Literacy has been learning a lot about budgeting, spending, and saving. They have been researching houses to find their dream homes as well as applying their new knowledge to Life- not real life yet, but rather the Game of LIFE! Campers have had to make important financial decisions like whether or not to go to college, what career to pursue, if they want to be risky or conservative with their money, and budgeting their salaries, just like real life.

In War and Peace Games, our three “nations” have been busy managing natural disasters (Alpha Nation experienced a flood that did $1 trillion worth of damage, yikes!), deciding how to distrubute their funds and resources, and creating treaties with each other. The campers have really bought in and are doing an awesome job!