Tracy Johnson and her 10-year-old daughter, Marissa, shared their first experience at Camp Invention, Plant City’s only science, technology and math (STEM)-themed camp, last summer. Johnson was an instructor and Marissa was a camper.
Johnson said her daughter was nervous at first. She didn’t know what to expect and thought a summer camp focusing on STEM might be too much like school.
“At first, she wasn’t sure,” Johnson said. “(Near the end of camp) they brought in recycled appliances and had to take them apart and create something. For her, being able to physically maneuver the tools and build something new was exciting. She came home and wanted to take everything apart.”
When Camp Invention starts up again this summer, the mother-daughter duo can’t wait to go back.
Camp Invention is a five-day summer camp offered nationally by the National Inventors Hall of Fame, where children in kindergarten through sixth grade experience hands-on learning in STEM fields.
“It’s one week in the summer where your child’s creativity, innovation and problem-solving skills are challenged,” said Camp Director Paul Coletti. “Our top priority is to inspire future innovators and build their confidence in the natural ability to dream and create. It’s a hands-on-minds-on camp where campers learn without truly realizing they are learning.”
And when it’s over, he said, the learning doesn’t stop. He’s seen campers come not having built anything before and leave as tinkerers. Many of his campers have grown into volunteers and instructors, he said.
Coletti, a math and science teacher at Walden Lake Elementary School, has been involved in Camp Invention for 16 years, first getting involved in Gainesville, where he still directs a
camp. He brought Camp Invention to Plant City three years ago and has watched it grow every year.
“The first year, we had around 60 kids. Then it was 70, then almost 90 last year,” Coletti said. “Our maximum is 110 kids, but our goal is 90.”
The camp’s location has also grown. Its first year was held at First Baptist Church, then it moved to the Trinkle Center and again to the Florida Strawberry Festival grounds. This will be its first year in the Charlie Grimes Family Agricultural Center.
Coletti said the growth has allowed for even more focused learning and fun. The more children in the camp, the more learning modules they can have and the more volunteers and instructors Coletti can have.
“The student-to-staff ratio can’t be beat,” he said. Last year, the camp had one staff member for every four campers.
Each year, the camp has a theme. This year’s, “Launch,” features modules relating to all manners of launching.
The “Duct Tape Billionaire” module has campers create and launch a business based around a product they build using duct tape. In the “Have a Blast” module, campers engineer tools like snowball throwers, air cannons and “bubble-blasters” to engage in air battles. There’s also “Mission: Space Makers” and “Operation Keep Out.”
The projects aren’t always successful, Coletti said, but that’s all part of the fun and learning of Camp Invention.
“Trying and failing is as important as the projects that succeed,” he said. “If some things doesn’t go your way, you keep trying. Sometimes your greatest success can come from a failure. You have to take a step back, think it through. If you launch something and it goes backward, what can you do to make it forward?”
Nothing is better, Coletti said, than the faces of campers on the last day, when they get to show off completed projects.
“When they leave, I love the buzz,” he said. “There’s nothing better than hearing that buzz and excitement among the kids. And the smiles. I like to see them smiling. It’s a cool feeling.”