Full STEAM Ahead: The Malcolm Jenkins Foundation and Drexel Partner to Offer Pioneering Summer Camp in West Philadelphia

One hundred students from the West Philadelphia Promise Zone will once again participate in Drexel's Summer STEAM Camp, created by a partnership with The Malcolm Jenkins Foundation.
Now in its fourth year, the Young Dragons Summer STEAM program will feature six weeks of education activities focused on the creative intersections of science, technology, engineering arts, athletics and mathematics. The free day camp, offered through a partnership between The Malcolm Jenkins Foundation and 性吧导航鈥檚 ExCITe Center and , is annually attended by 100 middle school students in the West Philadelphia Promise Zone neighborhood.
The program is an expression of mission to bring positive change in the lives of youth through innovative opportunities and resources.
鈥淭his will be a great opportunity for campers to experience a lot of amazing program offerings, while also leveraging experts, undergraduate and graduate students at Drexel, providing them opportunities to gain teaching experience through the development and implementation of STEAM curriculum,鈥 said Gwendolyn V. Jenkins, president & CEO of The Malcolm Jenkins Foundation. 鈥淲e have many fun learning activities planned throughout the six-week camp, including field trips to places like NovaCare Center, NBCUniversal, Franklin Institute, Fabric Workshop and Museum and more, to gain first-hand experience on the various areas of STEAM education and activities they are learning.鈥
Since its inception in 2015, the camp has steadily increased the amount of custom-developed STEAM content its presents each year. The curriculum strives to make the subjects of science, technology, engineering, math and the arts, resonate with students from a young age, so they are awakened to the power and relevance of these subjects in their day-to-day lives. Unlike any other summer camp in the nation, the program combines the latest technology and learning science research through novel activities including music production, visual arts and virtual reality and sports science.
New activities for this summer will illustrate the engineering principles behind the design of popular sneakers and will introduce themes of astrophysics, astroengineering and astrobiology in a week focused on STEAM and space.
鈥淔or 2019, we are incredibly excited to offer the camp we鈥檝e envisioned for years. The program is entirely custom and integrated activities that transcend the boundaries of technology, science and education. This camp is everything we believe learning should be鈥攅xciting, creative and fun鈥攁nd is not available anywhere else at any price. We鈥檙e honored to offer this experience to students in the West Philly Promise Neighborhood,鈥 said Youngmoo Kim, PhD, a professor in the College of Engineering and director of the .
The Young Dragons Summer STEAM program has been developed specifically to meet the needs of children living in close proximity to Drexel in the federal Promise Zone neighborhood. The 2019 summer session will start on Monday, June 17 and continue through Thursday, July 25. It is offered at no cost to middle school residents, entering fifth through eighth grades.
For more information, contact Ashley Kole (ashley@excitecenter.org) or visit
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