CampSTEMtastic Project

The Rotary Club of Thomasville proudly supports CampSTEMtastic at Thomas University. Camp STEMtastic primarily serves to promote STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) fields to low-income students, and it also offers teachers-in-training real-world experience working with students on STEM lessons. Many of the experiences campers have would not be possible without a program like Camp STEMtastic.

TU once again invited a new cohort of thirty rising 6th grade students to attend the week-long Science of Flight camp. The new cohort studied flight over the course of five days at locations such as Arcadia Plantation, the Thomasville Airport, the Challenger Learning Center, and the Tallahassee Museum.

After the Science of Flight camp, nineteen 7^th grade students returned to TU’s campus to study Marine and Fresh Water Ecology. These students also visited Arcadia Plantation where they learned about freshwater ecosystems before spending two days at Florida State University’s Coastal and Marine Lab in St. Teresa, Florida.

Next, rising 8^th graders took part in a camp that focused on “the Human Machine." After completing the challenge course on the FSU “Rez,” all fourteen campers toured Hood Industries, Flowers Foods, and the Wilo plant located here in Thomasville.

Finally, the original cohort of now rising 10th graders returned to TU to take part in their fifth year of the program. This year’s camp focused on Natural Resource Stewardship. Sixteen campers visited the Flint RiverQuarium, learned about the Longleaf pine ecosystem at Tall Timbers Research Station, explored Providence Canyon, and experimented with constructing maps at Arcadia Plantation.