STEM Courses and Camps

Rising Grades 6-10

IN-PERSON

The Creative Writing Boot Camp is an in-person, one-week camp course designed for students in rising grades 6-10. Students will explore the basics of creative writing and will write personal narratives, short stories, poetry, and even the outline and first chapter of a novel. Students will experience lessons, writing activities, and writing projects with one-on-one feedback from a teacher. Along with being an enjoyable form of communication and expression, creative writing is extremely valuable for academics and career, whether that’s for writing college application and scholarship essays, creating marketing materials, or a variety of other applications. This camp is developed and taught by Mrs. Erin Price, the English Program Director and a published writer, assisted by Ms. Ziz Kilmer, a creative writer and English student.

Rising Grades 7-10

ONLINE (HYBRID) / IN-PERSON

Introduction to Cybersecurity is an online and in-person, week-long camp designed to introduce rising 7th–9th graders to the world of cybersecurity and digital safety. This camp covers fundamental cybersecurity concepts, including password security, online safety, cyber threats, encryption, and ethical hacking. The course is project-based, with a strong emphasis on real-world applications, allowing students to engage in hands-on activities, simulations, and interactive challenges. By the end of the week, students will have gained a deeper understanding of cybersecurity principles and learned practical skills to protect themselves and others online. 

Rising Grades 2-5

IN-PERSON

During this in-person, one-week camp, students will acquire teamwork and problem-solving skills to construct Lego energy models under the guidance of our trained robotics instructors. Our instructors will provide a comprehensive overview of assembling energy models to show the different energy components such as source, storage, distribution. and consumption. Students will then learn to program the models to operate at the same time, demonstrating the flow of energy from the source to their communities. In addition, the students will participate in numerous projects, enabling them to learn about energy transfer and develop their skills of teamwork, problem solving, and block programming. 

Rising Grades 6-9

IN-PERSON

During this in-person, one-week camp, students will use hands-on robotics kits along with our experienced robotics instructors to learn the intricacies of Arduinos and robotics. Our team of instructors will be walking students through the basics of assembling the robotics kit to programming it to follow a line, detect walls, and many other projects throughout the week. Students will learn the basics of C++ and Arduino programming, and will gain experience with assembling and testing a robot kit. 

Rising Grades 7-10

ONLINE (Hybrid)/IN-PERSON

Introduction to Python Programming is an online and in-person, week-long camp that introduces rising 7th–9th graders to the fundamentals of computer science and programming using Python. This hands-on, project-based camp covers essential programming concepts, including variables, loops, functions, conditionals, and user input, while emphasizing real-world applications. By the end of the camp, students will have built multiple interactive projects and gained a strong foundation in Python programming. 

Rising Grades 7-10

ONLINE (Hybrid)/IN-PERSON

Introduction to Python is an online and in-person, six-week-long course designed to provide rising 7th–10th graders with a structured introduction to computer science and programming using Python. The course is project-based and focuses on realworld applications, allowing students to practice coding through interactive assignments and guided projects. By the end of the course, students will have developed a solid understanding of Python fundamentals and completed multiple coding projects. 

Rising Grades 7 & UP

ONLINE

This course is run by an organization created by high school students for younger students! This course provides a tailored introduction to artificial intelligence and machine learning, two of the fastest growing and cutting-edge areas of research in the world today. Students will learn the fundamentals of programming for data science and AI development. They will apply their skills in developing a specialized AI project that they can include in their résumés. Finally, they will dive into machine learning concepts and develop an outline for a research project; top projects will be invited to a research symposium to present their idea to an audience for prizes! 

Rising Grades 7 & UP

 This ONLINE course is run by qMe, an organization created by high school students for younger students!

Welcome to qMe! We are two college students with Aditya at University of Maryland CS and Akshita attending
University of Virginia CS. Both of us have been exposed to quantum computing through our research and various endeavors at both schools. Both have attended MIT conferences to present their quantum computing research and continue to expand their knowledge in college. One regret we often discuss is how we were initially scared to get into quantum computing and wasted many years we could have spent learning, as there is a stigma that there needs to be a high level of background knowledge to succeed in such an advanced field as a high schooler. Therefore, we decided to create our own organization to educate those who have an interest. We also want to give students a chance to speak on a platform about quantum, which is why this course goes hand-in-hand with our blog in which students will be able to showcase what they learn in quantum through articles, something we believe is important for sourcing.

qMe is a one-of-a-kind organization aimed to teach younger students about the rapidly growing field of quantum computing and its subsets with the aim of making quantum computing accessible to students of all backgrounds. This course tends to conventionally start at the university level, but by igniting interests of the young demographic towards the field early, we can shape the role our future workforce will play in this important field, which is estimated to rapidly grow in the next decade. Students will learn higher level math concepts, programming concepts, physics concepts, etc. Not only will students learn but they will perform hands-on tasks such as running simulations and writing algorithms on IBM Quantum Composer. This fully online course will not only introduce students to the quantum computing world, but teach them concepts that are critical, with no prerequisite.
We have taught over 200 students in just two years, have been featured on NBC4 PrimeTime, and have made over $30,000, with over half being donated to Ugandan healthcare initiatives as well as a women's orphanage in
Hyderabad. Above all, we have expanded to teaching college students in India, with our newest pilot program teaching 4th year engineering students at JNTU-K. Many of our students go on to TJ, AOS, and AET as
well as continue their quantum research even with college collaborations. If you want your child to stand out,
quantum computing is the place to be. NO prior experience needed!

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/northern-virginia/northern-va-high-schoolers-teach-quantum-
computing/3458239/

 Introduction to STEM Research Camp (Rising 7th - Rising 10th Grade Students)

During this ONLINE, one-week course, students will learn the foundations of how to conduct STEM based research writing to help them in their future endeavors in both high school and in college. Research skills developed early on would put your child at an advantage since research skills are not taught at all schools (yet it is expected at higher levels of education) giving a competitive edge to students who start learning early on. Whether for school projects, science fairs, or other competitions, this course will teach students step-by-step through the full research process on how to form strong questions, build hypotheses, and write each component of a research paper from introduction to conclusion. The course will also explore how research is conducted in a laboratory and outside of a laboratory, making this course practical for any student regardless of setting. By the end of the week, students will be able to write the full research paper, the abstract, and give “lightning talks” to present research. The skills learned in this week-long course would help the student learn to use the internet for research purposes, give a head start for STEM research internships and mentorships, build public speaking skills, and more.

 Autonomous Robototics Course (Rising 7th - Rising 10th Grade Students)

This Course is run by an organization created by high school students for younger students!

This four-week course, hosted by the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) team Metal Magic, introduces students to autonomous robotics through Arduino development. Students will learn about core electronics including servo control and motor based robot movement, as well as using sensors such as laser distance tracking and color sensing. Each week introduces concepts with lessons, and guided lab time to work on their final project: an autonomous robot capable of organizing objects. By the end of the course, students will design and code an Arduino based autonomous robot and learn how to troubleshoot hardware and software issues along the way. No prior robotics, programming or technical experience is required!

**The program fee includes Arduino UNO and other electronics which the student will be able to take home at the end as part of their working robot project. The Arduino kits are great for other projects the student may want to do at home!