On June 2, Emporia State will host the first day of the week-long MASTER-IT! STEM education program. This will be the 24th year that the camp is hosted on campus.
The program will engage 16 young women entering eighth and ninth grade in a series of educational activities intended to enhance their interest in and knowledge of STEM fields. The activities include field trips and in-house workshops led entirely by female STEM professionals. An example schedule from the program brochure lists activities like learning how to cast a broken arm, extract DNA and perform fingerprinting at crime scenes.
According to the program’s coordinator, Holly Hollenbeck, the camp activities are partly tailored to the interests of its participants. MASTER-IT! once catered primarily to mathematically-minded students. However, the program has evolved to encompass a broad range of STEM topics based on interests specified by the participants during their registration. This year’s program will include workshops with a local doctor and ESU nursing faculty for campers interested in medicine and a tour of the Wolf Creek nuclear power plant in Burlington, Kan. for those interested in engineering.
MASTER-IT! not only provides young women with academic learning opportunities, but it allows them to imagine campus living as well. Supervised by camp counselors who are ESU mathematics and science majors, participants stay in the residence halls during the week.
“They’re doing hands-on learning things all day long, and they’re getting to learn about a variety of STEM careers,” said Daphne Mayes, ESU’s STEM outreach director. “They also get a great opportunity to explore our campus and kind of see all the cool things that we have here to offer for our students, and these are middle school aged girls, and so they’re going to be thinking about that in the not-too-distant future.”
As part of the ESU experience, the coordinators will also incorporate evening activities outside the classroom. Past campers have had gaming nights after touring the Esports arena, and the William Allen White Library has hosted laser tag and breakout rooms for campers.
The camp also provides leadership opportunities for its counselors. Last summer, ESU students ran several of the educational sessions, and the program will continue to host student-led workshops. Mayes recalls one graduate who recounted her experience as a counselor for MASTER-IT! as one of her favorite experiences at ESU.
“I think that speaks volumes for the student experience, those that are helping with this amazing program, our students are also gaining a lot from it,” said Mayes.
Mayes also comments on the significance of establishing a STEM educational opportunity specifically for women. She describes the historical discrepancy in both workplace representation and pay between men and women and says that the Master It program is intended to inspire more women to pursue STEM careers.
“We’ve been able to continue that legacy, I would say, of showing girls like, ‘Hey, you can do these things too, if this is something that you’re interested in. It’s not just for boys, it’s for girls too,’” said Mayes. “And they could kind of see those role models and meet them and get inspired by them.”
Mayes reflects on the value of this program to the campers.
“We feel like it’s worthwhile and we’re excited to be able to provide this experience for these campers,” she said. “I mean, it’s pretty amazing to see them participate and get excited and to think that this could be something that sparked their idea of what they might want to be later in life.”
