Snow Time Like Winter STEM Camp

Valley Academy teacher Tracy Gelb described the January Winter STEM camp in two words: fantastic and cold. Both accounts are accurate, with the first night at the camp seeing temperatures of -15F. For the past seven years, Wenatchee teacher Tina Nicpan Brown has skillfully designed hands-on STEM learning camps for Wenatchee students that combine academics with activities with the help of community partners. The camp not only ignites curiosity in young minds but also takes advantage of the opportunity to learn outdoors in the winter in the beautiful setting of the Lake Wenatchee YMCA camp.

Nicpan Brown raised close to $14,000 through grants, donations, and participant fees to fund the camp for 40 campers from Valley Academy. The funds covered meals, transportation, substitute costs, and camp expenses for a 4-day, 3-night stay. Nicpan Brown says the camp's success is because of the generosity of community partners, whether in the form of volunteer time or funding.

The Winter STEM camp provided a blend of teacher-led learning activities such as engineering safety helmets and identifying mammals using skulls and pelts, with community enrichment activities like winter landscape watercolor techniques with artist Terry Valdez, survival skills with retired Marine Rick Mott, and construction of snow structures with Devin McElbery from the YMCA. Campers even earned their Jr. Ranger badges with Lake Wenatchee Park Ranger Zack Shirk.

Gelb reported that students were active and engaged the entire four days of the camp, from day to night, and they couldn't wait to get out of bed each morning. Students recorded their experiences in field journals through illustrations, written reflections, charts, graphs, and recipes.

Valley teacher Shelby Hourigan said, "[The camp] brought absolute joy to my heart to hear a 5th grader exclaim, 'This is better than video games!”.