MSU receives grant to host geospatial skills camp for high schoolers
Partner organizations will be recruited in five rural Montna community, and partner organizations are invited to apply by Jan. 29. An informational webinar will be held Jan. 22
photo courtesy of Hilary Lozar / Boys & Girls Club of the Flathead Reservation and Lake County
Students at the Boys & Girls Club of the Flathead Reservation and Lake County camp work through a lab assignment in June 2024. Their efforts were part of a weeklong camp hosted by MSU focused on developing geospatial skills. High school students in five rural Montana communities will have the opportunity to attend a similar camp this summer.
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From MSU News Service
BOZEMAN — High school students in five rural Montana communities will have the opportunity to attend a weeklong camp this summer focused on developing geospatial skills. The camp is being made possible thanks to a $430,000, three-year grant awarded to Montana State University from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Partner organizations will be recruited in each of the five communities.
MSU regularly provides opportunities for middle school and high school students in STEM fields, according to Suzi Taylor, director of the Science Math Resource Center at MSU, which is hosting the camp along with the MSU Department of Earth Sciences. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
“Montana is one of the most rural states in the U.S., with 75% of school districts considered rural – the highest proportion of any state,” Taylor wrote in the grant application. “Consequently, not just many but most Montana young people grow up with few or no STEM opportunities beyond school-based classes, which also can be quite limited due to small school sizes and STEM teacher shortages.”
An initial grant of $85,000 supported the inaugural camp last year.
This year’s camp, designed for students entering ninth and 10th grades, will be held June 9-13 in five rural communities, which have not yet been determined. Trained educators will deliver the camp in person in each community. In addition, some content will be delivered via distance-learning technology. Funding is available to support five campers at each of the five locations with lunch, snacks, transportation, STEM equipment and more.
The MSU team planning the camp includes an undergraduate student in education and an undergraduate student in earth sciences. They will work together to create the camp’s curriculum, Taylor said, then educators in the partner communities will customize the camp curriculum for their students. Educators are encouraged to relate camp skills and experiences to their own individual interests such as robotics, human performance or aviation; community needs, such as natural resources management, precision agriculture or meteorological forecasting; and national topics of interest such as security, energy or climate change.
Though some activities, like guest speakers, will be scheduled throughout the week for all the groups, Taylor said the camp is meant to be customizable to each community based on its needs. For example, she said, communities might address topics such as dealing with wildfire smoke or new housing developments.
“MSU will provide 40 hours’ worth of camp material, but each community will have the flexibility to implement it in their own way and on their own schedule,” Taylor said.
One goal of the camp is to help kids learn about careers and fields of study related to geospatial science and engineering, particularly those connected to the Air Force and other organizations that offer employment in rural areas, Taylor said.
“Our plan is to have virtual guest speakers from MSU, from the Air Force, from NASA, from the Forest Service,” she said. “The campers will get to meet all kinds of people who use geospatial skills in their daily work. We hope it lights a spark and helps kids realize, ‘Oh my gosh, I could do that, too.’”
Campers will be encouraged to relate camp skills and experiences to their interests; their communities’ needs, such as natural resources management, precision agriculture or weather forecasting; and national topics, such as security, energy or climate change.
In addition, campers will be invited to visit MSU for a day later in June to attend GIS Day, which the Science Math Resource Center hosts with support from MSU’s Geospatial Core Facility, a hub for all things geospatial on campus and beyond.
Camp materials will also be posted online so people from around the state can use the camp curriculum and customize it for their own communities.
Partner organizations in rural Montana communities that would like to host the June camp may apply now. Applications are due Wednesday, Jan. 29. Taylor said any community educator organization is welcome to apply, such as libraries, schools, out-of-school programs, 4-H clubs or scout troops.
“Really, it can be anyone who has a mission to work with kids,” she said.
Taylor said the Science Math Resource Center hopes the camp will help illuminate job possibilities.
“They may have heard you can be an engineer, but they have no idea all the different kinds of engineering that you can do. Or maybe they have a vague idea of what it’s like to be a scientist, but unless you’ve met someone who’s doing all these cool scientific applications, it’s hard to picture yourself being that person someday,” Taylor said. “Our goal with this camp is to shine a light on some of those possibilities.”
An informational webinar will be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 22, for those who have questions about the program or application.
For additional information, contact geoskills@montana.edu or visit montana.edu/smrc/geo-skills.html.
