{"id":19027,"date":"2013-06-13T13:41:27","date_gmt":"2013-06-13T17:41:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/?p=19027"},"modified":"2013-06-13T13:41:27","modified_gmt":"2013-06-13T17:41:27","slug":"summer-camps-teach-stem-skills-to-kids-in-foster-homes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2013\/06\/13\/summer-camps-teach-stem-skills-to-kids-in-foster-homes\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer Camps Teach STEM Skills To Kids In Foster Homes"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_19051\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"We hope the students in Jacksonville build better robots than these at their camp this week.\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2013\/06\/6-13-RobotCamp.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-19051\" alt=\"We hope the students in Jacksonville build better robots than these at their camp this week.\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2013\/06\/6-13-RobotCamp-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2013\/06\/6-13-RobotCamp-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2013\/06\/6-13-RobotCamp.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Dan Coulter \/ Flickr<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">We hope the students in Jacksonville build better robots than these at their camp this week.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Hundreds of kids in foster care are working on <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/tag\/stem\/\">science, technology, engineering and math &#8212; otherwise known as STEM &#8212;<\/a> projects this summer.<\/p>\n<p>The projects are part of the Florida Department of Children and Families <a href=\"http:\/\/campsforchampions.com\/camps.shtml\">Camps for Champions.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany foster children don\u2019t have the same opportunities to travel and learn new activities like their peers do,\u201d said football star Derrick Brooks, who helped launch the camps in St. Petersburg this week. \u201cThese camps give them those opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the kick-off camp, 30 kids learned STEM skills in St. Pete. Campers in Jacksonville are teaming up to build robots this week.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese camps give the children in our care an opportunity to partake in a summer rite of passage,\u201d said DCF Secretary David Wilkins. \u201cSummer camps are part of growing up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Starting next month, Florida foster children can attend any summer camp and extra-curricular activities with permission from their foster parents. Permission from the state legal system is not needed.<\/p>\n<p>The focus on STEM at the Camps for Champions is particularly important to educators like Dr. Rebecca Waggett, an assistant professor of biology at the University of Tampa.<\/p>\n<p>She helps coordinate the Science Math Master program, which strives to improve the way science and math-related subjects are taught in high school.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/tampatribune.com\/list\/news-opinion-letterday\/investing-in-students-and-the-economy-20130612\/\">In a letter to the Tampa Tribune<\/a>, she wrote about the need for more Florida students to pursue higher education and <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2013\/03\/18\/will-floridas-push-for-high-tech-degrees-pay-off\/\">career paths in STEM fields.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have seen firsthand the difficulties presented to today&#8217;s educators in teaching science, technology, engineering and math subjects and sparking interest in the minds of their students,\u201d Waggett wrote. \u201cIn our current state of technological advancement and economic growth, it is imperative that Florida produces graduates skilled in STEM areas to ensure that our state remains a leader in scientific and technologically-based industries.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Instructors can take part in the Summer Math Master Summer Institute Series at the University of Tampa June 17-20 and June 24-27.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hundreds of kids in foster care are working on science, technology, engineering and math &#8212; otherwise known as STEM &#8212; projects this summer. The projects are part of the Florida Department of Children and Families Camps for Champions. \u201cMany foster children don\u2019t have the same opportunities to travel and learn new activities like their peers [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[839,1082,1159,1067],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19027"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19027"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19053,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19027\/revisions\/19053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}