Here at the PAST Foundation over the summer, we provide week long summer camps geared towards Elementary, Middle School, and High School students over 9 weeks. These camps are designed to be Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) focused and aim toward getting students introduced (and possibly interested) in the differing fields. My role here is as a Research Intern. Our goal is to analyze how students feel towards the camps and how they associate themselves with being a “STEM” Person. 

The last 2 weeks, my teammates and I have been working on modifying different survey instruments to better suit different age ranges. We changed the language for students in grades 4-5, 6-8, and 9-12. It was a bit difficult to find the right words at times, we did not want it to be too complex for the students to understand, but have enough information to garner the correct responses. Additionally, the questions we ask on the surveys must be compliant with the Ohio Means Jobs Readiness (OMJ) standards. So, we had a lot of brainstorming to do to ensure they were met.

After we modified all of the surveys, we were ready to prepare for the first week of camps! For this, we go through a very long list of students (around 300+) and determine which students will be present the first week. Then we are able to create rosters so our week can run smoothly.

This week was the first official start to the summer camps! Since our responsibility is data analysis and acquisition, we administer the survey we helped modify the weeks prior. On Mondays, we administer Pre-Surveys to students who are taking their first camp of the summer. Post-surveys are administered on the Friday of their last camp they will be in. By doing it this way, we can see how much the students’ responses change throughout their time at PAST this summer. On Friday, we collect all of the data of the summer so far (this would be week 1 as of now), and see what the students have been saying. The first week, we don’t observe much, but this is sure to not be the case by the end of the summer. 

This is my 2nd summer at The PAST Foundation. I am so excited to be back here and with a fun group of interns! I can’t wait to see what the rest of the summer will have in store.

See you next week,

Danyelle Bumpus