2016 Mid-Year Report

SHELL STEM CAMP
Summer
2016 at
the Boys &
Girls Clubs means
a summer full of discovery. For
the first time, the Clubs have offered a
week long STEM Camp at each site, called Discover Motion.
The theme of this Camp helps focus members’ attention,
while they spend the week discovering, exploring,
and experimenting with the various aspects of physics as
it relates to movement. This opportunity was made possible
through a grant from Shell Puget Sound Refinery,
as means to both grow budding young scientists for the
future, and provide Boys & Girls Club members with a
unique summer experience.
Beginning at the Anacortes Club, a corps of seven Club
members began their exploration by building wheeled
vehicles and testing them on a ramp. They discovered
quickly the importance that symmetry plays in their
designs in order to keep their vehicles on the ramp,
balanced, as well as stabilizing the free moving parts
so that their vehicles could reach their top speeds.
Extra points
were given for
style, function, and
mechanical complexity.
On the second day of STEM Camp,
Club members were visited by a team of Shell
Puget Sound Refinery employees, that consisted of engineers,
scientists, and mechanics. Club members were
engaged in discussions about the refinery, and had the
opportunity to explore a functioning mini refinery that
demonstrated how the engineers, scientists, and mechanics
all work together to turn crude oil (black sludge)
into usable products like gasoline, asphalt, plastics, and
fertilizer. The Shell employees were more than happy to
share about their areas of expertise and the colleges and
universities where they could pursue similar academics,
in order to prepare them for future careers in science.
Continuing their adventures through motion, Club members
worked through the process of researching and designing
a simple machine in the form of a crane arm. Utilizing
the tech lab, members researched cranes to develop
their own designs. Then they went to work discovering
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D ISCOVERS UMMER: DiscoverMotion