Selected students from the Detroit Area Pre-College Engineering Program will be picked up by charter bus to travel to the campus of Michigan Technological University to participate in a two week residential program. This program will include all meals, lodging, 24-hour supervision by our professionally trained undergraduate/graduate student staff, role model speakers from industry-leading corporations, activities with other participants (in 2010 students were from 40 different states and countries), and unique inquiry-based programming that will take students on a journey through the wide world of engineering. Students will be staying in our Wadsworth Residence Hall, with dining services hosting a wide variety of menu options that will satisfy any taste.

Summer program design is based on strong evidence that immersion is effective in providing students with the experiential knowledge necessary for future science and engineering success. We use pre and post-test surveys and attitudinal measurements to ensure the integrity of our programs. For example, in the summer of 2011, 65% of students agreed, “I will major in a STEM field in college;” 100% agreed, “I will attend college;” and 100% agreed, “I will graduate from college.” These astounding figures illustrate that DAPCEP is truly affecting the lives of our youth in ways that reach beyond the classroom and straight to their futures.

We want our youth to not only have the skill set to succeed in STEM fields, but the motivation to take challenging courses and believe in their own abilities. The following is an excerpt from one student’s article of reflections on her summer engineering experience:

“Some of the lessons we learned at camp this week include:
• Don’t give up on your dreams just because they are hard to accomplish.
• Expose yourself to lots of different types of work and activities.
• Don’t let anyone tell you that “you can’t do it.”
• Everyone is different in their own way.
• Stay true to yourself and keep your integrity.
• Take the hard classes in high school… especially math.
• Don’t shut any doors. Engineering opens all kinds of opportunities for you.”

In week one, students will select from various week-long explorations which include:
Bridges, Dams, Skyscrapers- Building Big; General Engineering; Mobile Robotics; Mechanical Engineering – Design the Future; Forensic Science & CSI; Discovering Nature’s Treasures – Mineral Hunting and Identification; and Lights, Camera, Action! Film and Video Production. In the second week, students will select from explorations: Chemical Engineering; General Engineering; Materials – Molten Metal to Plastics; Engineering the Human Body; Computer and Electrical Engineering; Medical Physiology; Sports Science; Wide World of Chemistry; Video Game Programming – Advanced; and Computer Graphics and Design.

These explorations will allow students to explore subjects in greater depth using campus facilities and explorative learning methods that are vastly different than traditional classroom experiences. Explorations will use high tech classrooms, laboratories, research facilities, and include field trips. Individual and group projects will help them collaboratively explore the academic fields they have chosen.

During the weekend stay-over between these two programs, participants will be hosted to a variety of experiences that can only be found in the scenic and historically rich Western Upper Peninsula. These thirty DAPCEP participants will leave this programming having a new vision of what exciting careers are out there for them, a better understanding of what it will take to attain these goals, and an inspired confidence that they can achieve and exceed expectations along the academic/career path that they have mapped out for themselves.

In the second week, participants will attend the first week of our flagship Summer Youth Programs. They will be able to choose from explorations such as: Forensic Science-CSI; Bridges, Dams, and Skyscrapers – Building Big; Stop the Hackers! Computer Network and Security; Mobile Robotics; and Lights, Camera, Action! Film and Video production. These explorations will allow students to explore subjects in greater depth using campus facilities and explorative learning methods that are vastly different than their traditional classroom experiences.