-
Cordell’s Allyson Rees, left, and Sentinel’s Hunter Brashears participate in WTC Stem Camp. Photo courtesy of Sarah Hirschman.
On Aug. 6, 2019, the Biomedical Academy at the Western Technology Center in Burns Flat held their own STEM Camp for middle school students. This was a free camp for students across the Western Technology Center district. Middle school students came from Clinton, Cordell, Elk City, Mountain View, Sentinel, Thomas and Weatherford.
An activity of this magnitude requires special interests and funds to implement. All activities and supplies were provided by Western Technology Center and the students of the Biomedical Academy. Bar-S Foods provided hot dogs, and Hobart United provided hot dog buns. Campers were grateful to share this experience at no cost.
The camp consisted of 28 campers who focused their learning in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). There were different stations set up in 3 different rooms. Campers learned skills such as pipetting. This skill engages students to deliver micro volumes of liquid into small areas. They learned the proper way to hold and use a pipette. They also learned what not to do with the pipette and even got to make their own designs in the well plate using colored water! This technique is used in microbiology.
Next, campers experimented with food calories. They were able to burn small food items. After burning, they were able to use heat and mass to determine how many calories were in different chips and crackers.
Students engaged in biomedical science with dissections of heart and eyes of cows donated by Keith’s Butcher Shop. The students loved being able to dissect a cow eye, see the different parts of an eye and learn about what the eye does. In another station, students utilized medical information and recorded heart rate, blood pressure and EKG from each other. This year’s camp was such a success and Western Technology Center Biomedical Academy hopes all the students who came had a blast! WTC is looking forward to another camp next year, and Biomed hopes to see some new and familiar faces.