VGCC faculty provide unique opportunities for students at third annual Science Camp
For the third straight year, Vance-Granville Community College held a Science Camp for area middle school students this summer, and this year’s event allowed more students than ever to engage in fun, educational activities related to an even wider range of subjects.
A total of 41 students, including rising sixth, seventh and eighth graders from Vance, Granville, Franklin and Warren counties, completed the day camp, which was held June 17-21 at the college’s Main Campus in Vance County.
Campers learned about techniques used in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields, including, for the first time, forensic science. “Crime Scene Investigation” (CSI) was the theme for one day of the camp, in which students learned not only how law enforcement officers collect and analyze physical evidence like fingerprints, but also how “DNA fingerprints” can be used to solve crimes. Perception, the five senses, memory and eyewitness testimony were also covered as part of “CSI” day. Faculty members from the VGCC Criminal Justice and Social Sciences departments conducted some of those sessions. The camp coordinators, VGCC Science department chair Steve McGrady and Biology instructor Button Brady, said those were examples of the contributions made by 17 instructors from across all of the college’s academic divisions, who volunteered their time and talents to make the camp a success. In addition to seven Biology and Chemistry instructors, instructors from Bioprocess Technology , Carpentry , Computer Education, Criminal Justice Technology , Electronics Engineering Technology , English, Pharmacy Technology , and Psychology exposed students to a diverse set of disciplines and perspectives.
Sessions found the campers isolating DNA from strawberries, making bird feeders, pressing flowers, manufacturing gelcaps, dissecting sharks, making AM radios, digging through dirt for ancient fossils, and launching “water rockets” into the sky, among other hands-on activities.
Four volunteer student leaders helped facilitate the camp, including Katelyn Johnson of Henderson and Chelsea Cronin of Creedmoor, both students at the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics; Tori Jackson of Henderson, a Northern Vance High School student; and Emily Thompson of Wake Forest, a student in the VGCC College Transfer program . Four rising ninth-graders who attended the camp in previous years also served as “counselors in training:” A.J. Holloway, Imani Simmons and Noah Whittacre, all of Henderson, and Tamiya Davis of Manson.
Above: From left, Science Camp participants Al-Leain Young of Henderson and Martina O’Briant of Stem use a microscope to view slides that they made of human cheek cells. (VGCC photo)
Above: VGCC Applied Technologies department chair Wesley Williams (center) listens as Science Camp participants Austyn Abbott of Kittrell (left) and Savannah Jones of Creedmoor test the AM radio they built using a circuit kit in one session. (VGCC photo)
Above: Science Camp participants (in foreground, from left) Angel Celestino of Henderson and Ryan Grossfeld of Bullock work with VGCC Biology instructor Emily Hill on identifying local plants, which they then pressed and dried. (VGCC photo)
