Author: Grey

Precollege Program’s “Mobile Invention Camps” Challenge The Dalles’ Youth

The Dalles had their first invention camp hosted by OSU. The camps are designed to challenge students to overcome obstacles and become better at critical thinking. The camps also offer a hands-on STEM experience to rural communities throughout Oregon. A lot of the activities done at these camps (duct tape wallets, solar powered cars, and chemical powered cars) are designed with failure in mind to help students better adjust to failure and find new pathways to success.

Another focus of these camps is to let OSU students interact with K-12 students and help them get an idea about what sort of options they have when approaching higher education. For a lot of K-12 students the camps are their first experience interacting with University representatives and it’s important that these interactions clear the air of any misconceptions the students may have about college.

Read the full story from The Dalles Chronicle

The North Marrow Times Writes About Precollege Program’s Mobile STEM Camps

The North Marrow Times is the local newspaper for Boardman, Oregon. Boardman is a town about 250 miles away from Oregon State University’s campus. It’s located on the river that acts as a border between Washington and Oregon. From July 26^th-27^th OSU offered one of their Mobile STEM Camps through Procollege Programs, in Boardman.

The camp ran two days and was aimed towards 6^th-8^th graders. Activities included making solar powered cars, building earthquake proof structures, and making water purification filtration devices. The camp was ran by four OSU students who also were able to answer questions about what college life is like.

Mobile STEM Camps’ focus is to provide meaningful, hands-on, STEM experiences to underserved children and rural communities across Oregon. Being able to impact 22 students in a rural community like Boardman, Oregon is a wonderful example of the STEM camps working to achieve their goal.

The full article from The North Marrow Times can be found here on page 13

An article written in The Daily Barometer, goes into detail about precollege programs with the directors of each program. The article is a good read and if you’re interested in precollege programs this article will help you understand what it means when they say, “Precollege programs make college seem possible”.

Daily Barometer article

This past year The Office of Precollege Programs at OSU was able to achieve its goals and make meaningful experiences for Oregon’s youth.

This year The Office of Precollege Programs offered 98 programs to Oregon’s youth which brought a total of 52,874 growth opportunities for Oregon’s youth. These programs engage students of all demographics in a large array of activities and subjects.

Along with the benefit to the K-12 students, Precollege Programs also provides valuable experience for OSU students, volunteers, teachers, and faculty across Oregon. Getting to interact with K-12 students in a way that will help shape them as students for the future doesn’t only look good on a resume but it feels good to be a part of.

A few highlights from this year are the Mobile STEM Camps and Campus Field Trips. Mobile STEM Camps is a program designed to bring STEM activities to student’s backyards. This program is crucial because there are a lot of rural communities in Oregon that don’t have access to STEM activities. Mobile STEM Camps allow OSU to engage with these rural communities and help their teachers and students interact in fun, engaging, and stimulating STEM focused activities.

One example of an activity commonly done at the camps is getting students to build solar powered cars made from K’nex. A group project like this introduces students to working in a group to achieve a real-world applicable goal. It also gives their teacher an opportunity to talk about renewable energy outside of a classroom setting.

This year, Mobile STEM Camps connected to 371 students in rural communities across Oregon. This was made possible with the help of 117 volunteers, OSU students, teachers, and parents or guardians.

The Office of Precollege Programs is very proud in the students we have here at OSU and their willingness and eagerness to help better the future for the rural communities and students of Oregon.

One of our other programs, Campus Field Trips, gives students and teachers the opportunity to come to OSU and tour the campus. During these tours they may tour campus, eat lunch in a dining hall, visit a cultural center or stop by an athletic facility, and have a presentation and participatory or hands-on activity presented by a faculty member, staff, or students meant to enhance school curriculum as well as expose students to potential majors or careers.

This year Campus Field Trips brought 9,801 students to OSU! This was done with only 41 OSU students working and giving tours to these kids.

As our programs continue to grow we look forward to working with new students and teachers across the state. The Office of Precollege Programs has a lot of programs for all types of students and we will continue to expand these programs to achieve our mission.

“Oregon State University’s Office of Precollege Programs (PCP) supports and oversees a wide range of youth outreach activities designed to increase the academic preparation of Oregon’s youth and prepare them for college. Programs ranging from summer science camps, to afterschool clubs, to research internships provide pathways to higher education and offer opportunities to enhance physical and mental well-being.”