The Navy League of the United States Bay County Council League, in cooperation with Gulf Coast State College (GCSC), the Gulf Coast State College Foundation and Bay District Schools, expanded the GCSC summer STEM camps from third through seventh grades by offering a new STEM camp for eighth through 10th grade students. Through its STEM mission, the council raised more than $50,000 through local sponsorships to support STEM camps in Bay County.
These one-week camps provided hands-on exposure to multiple areas of STEM career fields. Using Sea Glide kits, students worked in teams to assemble their Sea Glide and take it from a box of parts to a finished product that could glide underwater across an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Learning concentrated on cybersecurity and hacking; electronics; 3D printing, computer-aided design and assembly; and testing of the finished product.
Students worked in a hands-on cyber lab and learned about the importance of cybersecurity and how to hack into encrypted systems by using hacking tools from the internet. The final test required hacking a 64-bit encrypted password to gain access to the internet from their classroom desktop. In addition, teams programmed their Sea Glide with instructions, so that they could autonomously transit the swimming pool on the final test.
This year’s camps were so successful that GCSC is planning to double the number of sessions and students for the 2021 summer camps. Planning and curriculum development is underway with plans for a land unmanned vehicle system with integration of skills in cybersecurity. Fundraising is already in full swing, with a need to raise $64,000. In 2020, major grants were received from the Navy League STEM Institute and the Panama City Post of the Society of American Military Engineers. Major donors included Eastern Shipbuilding Group Panama City (building the Coast Guard’s Off Shore Patrol Cutter) and Bill Cramer GMC dealership. If you want more information about the camps or make a donation, please contact retired U.S. Navy Capt. Rick Weston at rickweston@comcast.net.
GCSC eighth through 10th grade STEM camp creates their final project, Sea Glide kits, after successful testing.