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UA-PTC welcomes Project Lead the Way campers

Thirty middle school students from Jacksonville, Sylvan Hills and North Little Rock Middle Schools are at UA - Pulaski Tech’s Main Campus this week and next learning how things work as part of the college’s Project Lead the Way Summer Enrichment Institute.

The students are using the latest technology to solve challenges such as designing, building, and testing a rocket for maximum possible altitude and a perfect landing. They’re working with mechanical gears, motors, limit switches and line trackers, and they’re using math and science to design mousetrap racers, rockets and skimmers. The event ends with a graduation and student robotics presentation on June 16 at 2 p.m. in the RJ Wills Lecture Hall on the second floor of the Campus Center.

The program uses the Project Lead the Way (PLTW) Gateway curriculum and certified instructors. This year the program expanded from one week to two weeks.

“We are excited we are able to offer this camp for the second year,” said Richard Moss, director of UA-PTC’s STEM Success initiative. “This is a great way to keep students' minds active while school is out of session, and we also hope that these hands-on experiences will perhaps help young people discover a life-long interest and potentially a career down the road in a STEM field.”

The camp is free for students and fits perfectly with the mission of UA-PTC’s STEM Success program, which aims to increase the retention and graduation of underrepresented students in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in hopes of creating a sustainable pipeline to STEM programs and careers in Arkansas.