Interview With
Shawna Hall
Our office has been in existence for 8 summers. However, we have recently decided to revamp our programs. We are excited to offer 8 new, high-quality camps for those students going into or just leaving high school.
We are located in Rapid City, SD in the beautiful Black Hills. Our camps take place at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. During the evenings, our students will get the opportunity to go into the Black Hills and see different tourist sites such as Mount Rushmore, which is located about 30 minutes from our campus.
Our philosophy is to provide all students regardless of gender, race, or financial background, the opportunity to experience high- quality, hands-on STEM, or science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. We hope to spark an interest in STEM in students, and keep that alive in others through our summer camps.
We offer 8-13 high-quality, hands-on science and engineering summer camps. All of our camps are specific to the different majors we offer and specialize in here on the South Dakota School of Mines & Technologies campus. Each camp is taught and developed by professors or graduate students who are the best in their field. Students will get the chance to learn from and spend a week with one of our professors in a semi-informal environment. All of our camps are limited to 16
students to ensure ample one-on-one time.
Each camp is going to be a little different in terms of day time activities. These might include hiking and camping for our geology camps, building and racing concrete canoes in Earthwise, making and programming a robot, or even watching
explosions with our mining camp. Each camp will include as many hands-onactivities as possible. Our goal was to reduce passive learning through PowerPoint’s and lectures, and increase active learning through field trips and hands-on learning. In the evening our campers will be participating in different teaming and leadership activities and doing different tourist activities throughout the Black Hills.
Our camps are week-long residential camps. Students come Sunday afternoon, and leave Friday after a closing luncheon. Each camp is $975. This includes lodging, meals, and all supplies they will need for the week. We do recommend students bring a little spending money for snacks and souvenirs.
We have three permanent staff in the office, along with an 8 month volunteer grant writer. During the summer, our staff swells to 35. All of our staff is nominated by professors. They have gone through a rigorous background check and training, to ensure the upmost safety for our campers.
Our camps are great for students who have an interest in science or engineering. We give our students a pre-college experience with them living in a dorm on our campus. This helps take away the fear of going away to college, as they are already somewhat familiar with what being in college feels like. Our students get ample one-on-one time with professors who are the best in their fields, and get a headstart to their freshman year. Their camper will be able to decide if this career path and major is right for them after spending a week immersed in the field.
Our camp enrollment begins in January and will close a week before the camp. However, in some instances if a camp is unlikely to be held we will close it a month before camp.
We do have scholarships available for students. We want to make sure any student who wants to come to camp is able regardless of financial limitations. We are also filling up quickly, so please visit our website or call us to register soon!
To register for camp or find out more information, parents can visit our website at www.sdsmt.edu/learn. To talk to one of us in the office, our office hours are Monday through Friday 7:30 am – 4:30 pm MDT. Our phone number is 605-394-2693. If we do not answer, please leave a message and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
