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By Jacob Farmer / jfarmer@chronline.com
J. Vander Stoep believes in the future success of students across Southwest Washington, especially when it comes to STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
The Chehalis Foundation’s summer STEM Camp, held annually at W.F. West High School, is a big reason for Vander Stoep’s confidence.
The school board director credits the camp for exposing young people to both the medical and engineering disciplines. Some past participants were even inspired to change their path and pursue a career in one of the scientific fields.
“I feel (it’s) just as likely that a kid from Chehalis or Hoquiam or Onalaska is going to be finding the next step in the cure for cancer or developing a technology that will lower our energy bills as a kid from New York or Seattle, and I think a lot of people feel that way,” Vander Stoep said.
Other past STEM camp participants have already made their mark outside the Chehalis School District. Take, for instance, Ashlynn Gallagher, the W.F. West graduate who developed a strip that tests for Zika virus in less than two minutes — while she was still in high school.
The annual camp is led by scientists and engineers from the University of Washington’s School of Medicine and College of Engineering. It is the only multi-day off-campus STEM camp put on by the university. This year, the four-day camp ran from Aug 4-7.
Vander Stoep says the partnership between the Chehalis Foundation and UW allows for a mutually beneficial experience.
“It’s good for the university to get out and display their educational abilities in medicine and engineering, and obviously it’s good for the students in Southwest Washington who participate,” Vander Stoep said.
Vander Stoep noted that it’s not just participants from the Chehalis School District who benefit. Students come from all around the area, including the Quinault Indian Nation, the Chehalis Tribe and the Aberdeen School District in Grays Harbor County.
“It’s an opportunity that’s very unusual and the cost is very, very small,” Vander Stoep said, adding that there are scholarships available if a student cannot afford the $25 registration fee.
In addition to the Chehalis Foundation, the camp is sponsored by the Chehalis School District, the Smith Family Foundation, Timberland Bank, the Chehalis Tribe and the American Association of University Women (AAUW).
Lynn Panther, STEM coordinator for the Chehalis School District, says the summer STEM camp began at W.F. West in 2013. In the beginning, the school’s science teachers developed the activities and challenges. They ran the camp for several years.
“Then in 2018 or 2019, in honor of Orin Smith, the UW began partnering with us,” Panther told The Chronicle via email. “The camp has evolved somewhat over the years but has consistently included both the schools of medicine and engineering.”
This year, nearly 100 high school students from across the state registered for the camp. Some come to learn everything; others focus on either the medical or engineering side.
“I heard from several kids that they came specifically for the engineering days but were surprised to have learned so much with the medical teams,” Panther wrote.
According to Panther, the College of Engineering comes every year. These UW mentors challenge students to incorporate fundamental engineering principles into their activities.
“Using the engineering design process, the students are put into teams where they must work collaboratively to succeed in the final competition,” Panther wrote. “This year, the students were tasked to design a boat to compete in any or all of the following categories: Beefiest Boat (holds the most weight), Precise Pontoon (stops closest to the bullseye), Fastest Ferry (reaches the finish line quickest), (and) Yeeting Yacht (travels the furthest distance).”
Panther added that the camp was also fortunate to have representatives from the Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine (ISCRM).
According to this year’s flyer, students were able to “dive into the mysteries of DNA, experiment with technology used today in research labs, discover how stem cells can be turned into other cell types, explore the possibilities of gene-editing, learn how biologists and engineers work together to solve medical problems, and get an up-close look at human heart, brain, and lung tissue.”
If you missed the STEM camp this year, don’t worry. Panther says it will return the first full week of August. The camp is open to all high school students entering grades 9–12.
“The camp is such an incredible opportunity for high school students that are interested in STEM or just want to learn more about it,” Panther wrote.
Vander Stoep agrees.
“They’re being exposed to really cutting-edge science and engineering,” the school board director said. “And they are participating in it, too. It’s not just a lecture; they are doing things that they are engaging in personally.”
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