HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Cosmosphere is giving students a chance to spend part of their summer building rockets, flying drones, exploring Mars and learning what it might take to work in space.
Jim Remar, president and CEO of the Cosmosphere, said the museum’s summer camps are designed for students from second grade through high school, with options ranging from introductory day camps to weeklong residential camps.
The younger camps introduce students to topics such as the solar system, Mars exploration and what it would be like to live and work on the moon. Remar said the goal is to get students excited about science, technology, engineering and math at an early age.
As students get older, the camps become more involved. Some middle school students can take part in weeklong camps where they stay in the dorms at Hutchinson Community College, eat on campus and spend their days at the Cosmosphere.
Remar said those camps are built around hands-on learning.
“You understand a theory or formula in the classroom or a textbook, but here we teach you what that really means,” Remar said.
One of the residential camps, Mars Academy, lets students look at what it would take to build a sustainable colony on Mars. Another, Mission Moonshot, focuses on robotics, rocketry and the science behind traveling to the moon.
For high school students, the camps include even more advanced experiences. In Mission Astro Lab, students take part in scuba activities, which Remar said helps show how astronauts train for spacewalks. Other camps introduce students to flight, drones and other aerospace-related skills.
The Cosmosphere also offers a travel experience that takes students to Johnson Space Center in Houston. Remar said students get a behind-the-scenes look at NASA, meet people involved in astronaut training and engineering, and learn more about what it takes to work in the space industry.
“It’s a great opportunity for students to really experience real-life, real-world STEM activities,” Remar said.
The Cosmosphere is also offering Discovery Base Camp in Wichita through a partnership with Learning Lab. Remar said the camp helps introduce students in Wichita to STEM and to the Cosmosphere’s education programs.
Another newer option is an introductory drone camp, made possible through a grant from the Kansas Department of Transportation.
Remar said drones are becoming a bigger part of many industries, and the camp gives students a chance to learn how they work, how they are used and what career paths may be connected to them.
“A lot of people don’t realize how commonplace drones are in everything we do today,” Remar said.
Remar said the Cosmosphere also hopes to offer more camp-style experiences outside the summer months, including opportunities for schools during the school year.
The Cosmosphere is open Sunday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. More information about the camps are available at cosmo.org.