I began my externship at the INL working with Jana and her incredible interns who organized and executed an amazing cybersecurity camp for students entering grades 9-12. I have several items that I was proud to say I learned to do: circuitry and coding in Lenox and Python, putting together a raspberri pi computer, refreshing my long term memory in binary numbers and learning to count binary on my fingers.

Jana did an amazing job organizing and managing interns and student activities and expectations. I loved being able to coach our interns on wait time and my limited knowledge of tech also provided them with a student to run through their presentations on, providing feedback on how to use wait time, slow down instruction, and successfully transition from one area of instruction to another.

After cybercamp I had the opportunity to support the STEM camp for middle level students and instructors. I love working with the youth and the summer flew by much quicker than I expected. I am amazed how incredibly bright these young students are and how enthusiastic they can be when it comes to learning a new skill.

My circuitry training in cybercamp came in hand with STEM Camp as I was able to teach and help coach students through a simple circuitry activity. I also had the opportunity to teach students about orienteering and how this skill is still needed, as we don’t have the ability to have access to internet 24/7, especially in rural parts of Idaho that we might visit to camp or hike.

I learned so much from my experience as an extern at both the Cybercamp and STEM camp, as did some of my students who attended. These camps inspired students and myself to start a Madison Tech Club. We meet twice a week after school and every other Friday during lunch.

Our tech club, using their knowledge from camp, created presentations about opportunities they learned about while at camp. So far we have over 25 students who are interested in Cyber Patriot, Girls Who Code, eCybermission, Vex Robotics and NASA TechRise.

My students also want to put together a cybersecurity escape room as a Friday lunch activity where students can attempt to escape using their knowledge of cyber and coding, similar to the activity provided during the camp. We recently received a STEM Grant that will support Tech Club.

Thank you INL for providing an invaluable opportunity for students and educators. We are so blessed to have such an inspiring STEM research facility in our own back yard and we need to work harder to engage students in STEM, Inquiry, and Real World Solutions to problems in our own communities.