2023 Summer STEM Camps

The Trashcano in action!

Earth Explorers Camp

• Dates: 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. each day June 5-9.
• Cost: $300. All supplies, snacks and lunches included in the cost.
• Register at: The APSU Marketplace page.
• Offered by: APSU's Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

Earth Explorers Summer Camp, a weeklong adventure for middle school students, will take place June 5-9 and is designed to provide a fun and educational experience in the world of earth and environmental sciences.

Students will learn about volcanoes, sinkholes, water resources, rocks and minerals, fossils, and earthquakes. The program will offer a hands-on approach with engaging activities that provide an in-depth look into these fascinating topics.

The Earth Explorers Summer Camp will open opportunities for students to explore the Tennessee environment, have fun and make new friends. The program will feature a combination of instructional talks and hands-on activities each day, with one major activity in the morning and another after lunch.

The camp activities include:

• A Trashcano, where students will launch 10 gallons of water and tennis balls 50 feet into the air to demonstrate how a volcano works.
• A dinosaur bone dig, where students will uncover replica bones and build a fossil skeleton.
• A grow-your-own minerals activity, where students will grow crystals.
• Sandbox aquariums, where students will learn how water flows through the ground.
• Sinkhole mapping, where students will learn how to identify sinkholes and try to find them on campus.

Space Explorers Camp attendees will spend one evening at the APSU Observatory.

Space Explorers Camp

• Dates: 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. each day June 12-16.
• Cost: $300. All supplies, snacks and lunches included in the cost.
• Register at: The APSU Marketplace page.
• Offered by: APSU's Department of Physics, Engineering and Astronomy.

Austin Peay State University is ready to launch its latest science-themed summer camp, the Space Explorer Camp, running from June 12-16.

The camp, designed for students from 10-14 years old, will be a full-day, weeklong day camp focused on space exploration and astronomy.

The camp will provide campers with the opportunity to learn about planets, stars and what is up in the sky while also engaging in fun and exciting activities such as building telescopes, making craters and launching water bottle rockets.

Students will:

• Spend a full day at the APSU Observatory learning about telescopes. Students will build their own telescopes and use telescopes to safely view the sun.
• Explore the night sky using the school’s 20-inch professional telescope and other smaller telescopes. The specific night will depend on sky conditions.
• Build and launch water bottle rockets and learn the basics of rocketry.
• Use computer-based activities and the Robert Sears Planetarium to learn about basic motions in the sky and constellations.
• Spend a full day exploring the planets of our solar system, learning about their size, characteristics, compositions and distance from the sun.
• Learn how craters are made and make craters themselves in simulated planetary bombardments.
• Handle meteorites from space!
• Build a 3D-printed model of the James Webb Space Telescope and learn about other NASA space observatories.

Austin Peay offers 14 summer coding camps.

Summer Coding Camps

• Dates: Several dates throughout the summer.
• Cost: $99 or $109. Snacks and drinks provided.
• Register at: The APSU Summer Coding Camps web page.
• Offered by: APSU's Department of Computer Science and Information Technology.

Austin Peay offers 14 summer coding camps opened to students in third-grade to those entering their first year of college. The camps are half a day over five days, and all equipment is provided in the university's state-of-the-art PC labs.

Camps include:

• Minecraft.
• Roblox.
• Website-building.
• Programs and games from scratch.
• 3D videogame development.

SOARing with Mathematics 

The SOAR Academy is returning this year and is scheduled for May 30-June 2.