Camp Invention enables creativity, reaffirms future goals for participants

By Jacob Sturm
[email protected]

Creativity has been on full display in younger-aged students across the Mustang School District that were signed up to attend Camp Invention at Mustang Trails this past week.

The camp, which has allowed for students to work on a variety of projects meant to get their
minds thinking about various STEM subjects, has served the students through the use of the
National Inventors Hall of Fame’s curriculum called Illuminate.

Students worked in four modules (Let’s Glow, In the Game, Operation Hydrodrop and
Prototyping Studio) where students work through the engineering design process to solve real- world problems. Those students are challenged through design difficulties, and are given encouragement to modify and improve their designs to compensate for those challenges.

Camp Director Paula Sharp, who also teaches STEM at Prairie View Elementary, spoke to the
curriculum and its impact on the kids attending the camp.

“STEM improves the resilience of students,” Sharp said. “They are not afraid of failure because they understand that reworking it is the next step.”

Projects on display in the early days of the camp involved an irrigation system strategy with a
layout of a farmhouse and crop organization, along with game boards and prototype gadgets
each student came up with during the camp.

Camp Invention has also served a purpose for selected older children who help with the
projects, as well as provide affirmation to some teachers and teachers in waiting.
One of those future teachers is Alivia Roberts, who has been a participant in the camps for the past four years.

“I’ve wanted to be a teacher forever,” Roberts said. “Since I was in Kindergarten, I just knew
that was what I wanted to do. So, ever since I got into middle school, every job I’ve had, it has
to do with education to get me more experience for my future. So, when I heard about this
camp, that’s like perfect. That’s just exactly for me. It’s the best fit.”

Roberts, who graduated from Mustang High School and is going to be a freshman at the
University of Oklahoma this Fall, said she has told people asking about working at the camp that the experience helps her learn a lot about working with kids and teaching them how they can work with others.

“I love seeing how their brains work,” Roberts said. “I love seeing how each one learns so
differently. I love this camp. It’s just so amazing.”

The camp has seen 140 students in the doors this year, with eight instructors, two parent
volunteers, two assistant directors, one director, along with 12 leadership interns and 13
leaders-in-training.

To Roberts, that means her group of students from her first year at the camp are now the
oldest group at the camp.

“Being here just makes me so happy that this is what I chose to do with my life,” Roberts said.
“I’m going into Elementary Education, so I can do like first grade through eighth grade. I love all of them. I just love being with the kids. I love working with them and just all of it. This is my environment.”