LIVERPOOL SCHOOLS – The Micron Foundation, the Liverpool Central School District and the Liverpool Foundation for Education wrapped up the region’s first Micron Chip Camp recently, with roughly 120 Liverpool middle schoolers. The students spent three days of their Spring Break getting valuable hands-on experience with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) concepts and a peek at the types of skills that will position them well for future careers in technology.
“We are excited to work with Liverpool CSD to give,” said Robert Simmons, head of social impact and STEM programs for the Micron Foundation. “When we provide opportunities for young people to see what’s possible and engage in hands-on learning experiences, we unlock a world of possibilities for their future. We look forward to sparking more joy, wonder and interest in STEM among students through the additional Central New York Chip Camps planned in the months ahead.”
“The technology industry will need thousands of highly skilled employees in Central New York, and our students here in Liverpool are up to the challenge of learning what they need to access those opportunities,” Liverpool Central School District Superintendent Daniel Henner said. “I want to thank the Micron Foundation for partnering with us to give students a chance to see how they may fit into a workforce of the future. I’m excited to see what our students are inspired to do with the skills they’ve gained through this experience.”
Sponsored by the Micron Foundation and made possible by the Liverpool Central School District and the Liverpool Foundation for Education, the day camp featured hands-on STEM activities related to semiconductor manufacturing and engineering jobs. Chip Camp attendees learned about what engineers and scientists do every day in a semiconductor company. The camp was offered at no cost to students through a Micron Foundation grant awarded to the Liverpool Foundation for Education.
The first in New York State and the largest ever, the three-day Chip Camp encompassed a number of activities, including building and launching rockets, learning circuitry by building Wiggle bots, and using code to program Micro:bits.
In one activity, groups of sixth, seventh and eighth graders were given approximately 15 minutes to build a freestanding structure utilizing just 25 straws and one meter of tape. The goal? To engineer a structure that would stay standing for at least five seconds.
Simulating the real world, manufacturing difficulties were thrown the students’ way during their build time. At one point, they could use only one hand to work, while later in the exercise they could communicate with their team members only in non-verbal ways.
On day two, students took a field trip to Cornell University’s NanoScale Science and Technology Facility (CNF), where students were exposed to a first-class learning environment, many for the first time. Campers learned about nanotechnology and its uses in a variety of fields such as medicine, engineering, energy, materials and manufacturing. They were then able to virtually follow a CNF staff member as he walked through the school’s cleanroom.
After the tour, students were able to conduct engaging experiments alongside Cornell scientists, as well as try on the cleanroom suits that must be worn in a sterile environment so their experiments do not get contaminated by outside or unclean elements.
On day three, they learned how memory chips are made and completed projects started on the first day. Chip Camp ended with a Rocket Blast-Off Launch Competition, as well as a Photobooth station with Micron Props.
Liverpool is the fourth on-site location for Micron’s Chip Camp, which includes camps in Georgia, Idaho and Virginia.