Design Days of Summer Camps for Grades 5-8

Have a Middle Schooler who likes to tinker, code, or enjoys robotics? Summer at St. Luke’s is offering two great camps this summer: Design Days of Summer and Robotics Camp.

Both of these online camp programs have been developed specifically for learners in grades 5-8, with the goal of helping students remain connected, acquire valuable skills, and think creatively during the summer and beyond.

Design Days of Summer
In this series of weeklong camps, campers will meet synchronously on Zoom for one hour each day to learn about and practice using common digital programs so we can become comfortable using them as makers.
Campers will create code using Hour of Code, Scratch, and TinkerCAD. They will explore how to build and 3D print in TinkerCAD and make digital music using Soundtrap. The possibilities are endless! No experience with any of these programs is required. The fundamentals campers will learn from this summer series will support them in Engineering and Design as they grow.

Tech specs: The programs that we will explore are all web-based, so campers need not have anything installed ahead of time. All campers will need access to a laptop or Chromebook, and a mouse is recommended. Chrome is the recommended web browser. iPads are not recommended. This camp is being taught by St. Luke’s designLab faculty member Kimberly Gerardi.

Campers may register for all three sessions or any combination individual weeks.

Design Days of Summer
Session 1 - July 6-10
Session 2 - July 13-17
Session 3 - July 20-24

12:00-1:00pm
Grades: 5th-8th

Cost: $200

Register here

Robotics Camp
Robotics is interwoven to the fabric of every single engineering and scientific industry, from aerospace and automotive to medicine and nuclear physics. Join St. Luke’s designLab Director Michael Mitchell for an exploration of mechanical, electrical, and software engineering through state-of-the-art technologies. Over the course of two weeks, students will engage in project-based learning by modeling the development of a hexapod robot.
The first week will cover the build phase, which includes mechanical and electrical integration, calibration, and operation. The second week will cover the control phase, which includes programming, software testing, and app development. This camp assumes (and prefers) little to no software and/or hardware background, but does expect that students are comfortable in a virtual—and at times, independent—learning environment.

The camp is best experienced as a two-week sequence, but families may choose to enroll in the first week only.

Families will be required to pick up and return their robotics kit from St. Luke’s during a designated window. Additional charges may apply for damaged or missing kits.

Robotics Camp
August 3-7 and August 10-14
1:00pm-4:00pm
Grades: 5th-8th

Cost: $400

Register here

You can visit CampSite to register for both of these camps.

Visit Summer at St. Luke’s for these and many other offerings.

Questions about any of Summer at St. Luke’s offerings? Contact Summer at St. Luke’s Director Hunter Martin at martinh@stlukesct.org.