GAMES! Girls’ Adventures in Math, Engineering, and Science

Girls’ Adventures in Math, Engineering, and Science (GAMES) Camp is a week-long residential summer program for academically talented rising 9^th – 12^th grade girls. GAMES is being held on the Engineering campus at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign July 14 to 20, 2013.

The mission of GAMES is simple: To promote and retain interest in the STEM fields during the age when some girls start to stray away from math and science. Our camp is designed to expose intelligent young women to a chosen engineering discipline through demonstrations, classroom presentations, hands-on activities, field trips, and contacts with female faculty and other professional women in the field. This approach proves to be very successful in developing brilliant young minds and encouraging these students to pursue higher education in a STEM field.

Please consider announcing this opportunity to your students and posting the flyer attached below.  You and your students can learn more about our camp track options, daily schedules, and application information at: http://go.illinois.edu/games.

Please note that due to generous corporate support, we are able to provide need-based financial aid packages to qualified applicants, and encourage all female students with strong math and/or science skills to apply.

If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to contact the Women in Engineering Office at engr-games@illinois.edu.

Oxbridge Programs Academia de Espana

WHO:  Students in 8^th to 11^th grade

WHAT:  Study and live in Spain (dormitory)

WHERE: Barcelona, Spain (Oxbridge offers courses in other areas as well)

WHEN:  Summer

APPLICATION DEADLINE:  Spring

FOR MORE INFO:  www.oxbridgeprograms.com

EMAIL FOR INFO:  info@oxbridgeprograms.com or 212-932-3049

FINANCIAL AID AVAILABLE: Yes (Scholarship deadline 3/1/13)

NAME OF PROGRAM:  La Academia de España

SHORT SUMMARY OF PROGRAM:  La Academia de España is an academic program for students in grades 10-12 held in The Residencia Universitària Josep Manyanet, a university residence in an upscale residential area of Barcelona, Spain.

There are almost twenty courses available, including courses in English, such as Barcelona and Modern Culture, Global Medicine, and International Politics, and in Spanish, such as Spanish Language, España en el cine, and La Guerra y las artes.

The Experiment in International Living

Student: Sabrina Perell

Class of: 2014

Name of Program: The Experiment in International Living

When you did the program: Summer 2012

Location: Spain
Link: http://www.experimentinternational.org/eil_ESCS.cfm#.URGXkqU82So

Summary: We all met in New York, took the international flight over to Madrid together and did orientation there. Regional toured and oriented us in each new region we visited. Most of the information we learned about focused on the three Abrahamic traditions. We visited various religious sights and museum, connecting the information we gained to people we met.  

In Madrid we mostly shopped, visited museums and did a scavenger hunt in small groups.

In Toledo we spent some time with kids our age who were immigrants from Latin America and visited the church.

We spent about two weeks in Acros with our host families and went outside the town to visit the beach and such.

In Zaragoza we helped out with the Red Cross summer camp with kids ranging from about 6 years old to 12. 

 We finished our trip in Barcelona where we explored the architecture, spent time at the beach, cooked in our apartments, visited an aquarium and other religious sights. With free time we mostly shopped.

About how many kids were in your summer program? 5 boys; 5 girls

Who were the adults and what role did they play in your experience? We had host parents, local guides in and we had one group leader who was with us the entire time. She was someone we could check in with if we were having problems, kept us organized and also helped us figure out what we were doing day to day and how we would get there.

How much free time did you have and what did you do with it? We started off with minimal free time so it was hard to get off the get lag but as the trip went on we had more and more--especially in Barcelona and on our home stays.

Did you have room and board or a home stay in another country? If so, what was your experience like? Yes. We stayed in hotels, hostels, an apartment and in the house of the host family. Some of the hostels we stayed in had some issues so we had to switch rooms but otherwise we were fine.

 What were the other students in your program like and how were the relationships that you formed? We came from all over the US, all with big personalities various goals for the program but together we made a contract that bound our different ideas. I made one extraordinary friendship that is still alive and well across the country.

What kinds of activities, social events, and trips were organized for the students? We hung out at the beach and with the friends of our host siblings.

About how much of your own money do you think you spent on gifts, food, transportation and other things not provided by the program? I spent close to $300 euro.

Did you have a curfew? If so, what time? Sometimes. During our home stay our parents would decide what time they wanted us back. The rest of the time our group leader would decide depending on the day ahead and what time we ended our activities in the evening.

Did you have internet access? If so, how much time did you spend using it?  In hotels it was typically available and my host family had wifi. At the start of the trip I used it very infrequently but later, with more free time I began to use it more.

How organized was the program? How much flexibility was there with the agendas? How much of a say did the students have in this? We had a lot of flexibility in our itinerary so we got to decide when we visited certain sites.

How was the food? Rate from 1-5 (1 being the worst and 5 being the best)  Three.

What is at least one thing you would do to improve the program? In the cities I would have liked to visit more famous sights and attractions. I wish I had more time with my host family. It was difficult because my host parents were working and we did day trips with the group.  I wish I would have seen the south of Spain with my host family under their own schedule.

What was your biggest takeaway from the experience/what will you most remember? Mostly I will remember the friendships I built and my growth in the Spanish language. I didn’t actually realize it until i came back to bay but my Spanish speaking abilities grew quite a bit.

Who would you recommend this program to? Who would this program not be best suited to? I found that the kids in my program who had never been outside of the USA liked it most. Also, I also would recommend this program only to those of you who feel fairly confident in speaking Spanish.

Rate your overall experience (1-5): 3 (average)

Summer@Brown

WHO:  Students completing 9^th-12^th grades by June 2012
WHAT:   Residential summer school at Brown University
WHERE:  Providence, Rhode Island

WHEN: June 17 - August 10, 2012

APPLICATION DEADLINE:  No application deadline for most programs

FOR MORE INFO (website): http://brown.edu/ce/pre-college/pre-college-courses.php

Student Participants Summer 2011: Will Sano ('12), Jesse Greenfield ('12), Robin Casset-Johnstone ('12)
A perspective from Will Sano ('12): 

NAME OF PROGRAM: Summer@Brown

SHORT SUMMARY OF PROGRAM: Summer@Brown is a summer academy for high school students that takes over the campus of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. The experience is meant to allow students to enroll in college-level classes while simultaneously enjoying their summer in the company of their intellectual peers. The length of the program depends on which classes you sign up for; some classes, like the Existentialist Literature class, last just a week, while others, like the intensive Pre-Med class, last almost seven. Class typically lasts about four hours per day, but this again depends on which classes you sign up for.

HIGHLIGHTS: I took a class entitled Laboratory Techniques in Biomedicine, and what I found most rewarding about this class was that I got to do experimental procedures and protocols too advanced for my high school curriculum. I also really enjoyed the activities Summer@Brown provided me outside the classroom, like a trip to Boston, a beach day in Newport, and a party on the last night. The quality and variety of the food options around Brown is excellent. I found myself returning to places like Kabob and Curry, East Side Pockets, and Mama Kim’s Korean Food Truck whenever possible. Though you might expect kids who go to summer school voluntarily to be insufferably intellectual and boring, I did not find this to be the case. Although I attended Summer@Brown with two of my friends from Bay, I met a whole group of kids who shared my interests with whom I could be myself and have fun.  

LOWS: This may be just a perceived low, but the classes at Summer@Brown do give out homework, and some even have tests and essays. While this does require you to spend some of your precious summer hours doing work, I can assure you it is work that you will enjoy. All of the classes at Summer@Brown are obviously elective, so your homework will likely interest you. Summer@Brown can also be very expensive, especially for those of us coming from the west coast who would require cross country airfare. Attendance for a two-week program (my suggested length of stay) is $3,540 for residential students, and $2,498 for students staying off campus. Scholarships are available, but are limited and competitive.

Feel free to contact me with questions about this program

Will Sano wsano@bayschoolsf.org