STEM Camp: Middle School Students Take Autonomous Cars Out for A Spin

While middle school students are too young to drive, on a recent summer afternoon more than a dozen students were driving cars in a parking lot at SLCC’s Redwood campus. The students were driving autonomous rovers that they had programmed; it was the culmination of a week-long STEM camp in which they learned scientific and engineering topics related to developing a self-driving car.

"Did you know there are 22 satellites, and my car is connected to three of them? The more satellites your car is connected to, the more accurate it will be,” explains 14-year-old Aliyah Melgoza, who added she liked designing 3-D models and soldering to make her own circuit board.

SLCC faculty help design the week-long Slick Science STEM camp, which runs three sessions each summer. The curriculum and activities include: computer programming, 3-D computer modeling, 3-D printing, engineering design, calculating direction and distance using GPS/GIS (Geographic Information System mapping) and robotics.

“It is great to catch the attention of these students now, pre-high school, so they can go into high school hyped up and wanting to take some of the STEM classes. It can even plant ideas, early in their educational trajectory, of possible career paths,” says camp director Quentin McRae, associate professor, Engineering.

Participating students come from middle schools throughout Salt Lake County, and scholarships are available for students who may otherwise not be able to attend this STEM camp ($150 this year). The Murray School District supported these scholarships with transportation to ensure access.

“If you like making new friends and if you like to learn new things, this is a good camp,” says 11-year-old River Steimle. “If you think school is boring and you think this is going to be like school, you should still come because it isn’t boring, its super cool and fun.”

Salt Lake Community College’s Slick STEM Camp runs three, week-long sessions each summer. For more information for 2023 summer camps contact jan.rogers@slcc.edu or call 801-957-5181. Each camp is capped at 14 students.

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