STEM Center USA Summer Camp to be held at UC San Diego
Average Rating Stars
Making Learning Fun
STEM education provides youth a rich foundation for curiosity, creativity, and confidence. Let's prepare the next generation for the jobs that don't exist yet by giving them the drive to design and build their dreams! Our STEM Camps give the students not just hands-on learning, but a FUN, SOCIAL week on amazing college campuses.
STEM Center USA is growing excited learners! They'll fall in love with UCSD's campus, experience the independence of a college dining hall, and have a blast with new friends and mentors. We provide face-to-face instruction rather than a self-directed, LMS software. Everyone in the room participates in the same class, rather than multiple topics causing distraction, noise, and disconnect. Trust our experience that a great week of STEM education is about the excitement and friendships forged by the camp's energy and purpose!
Highlights Include
- Full-Day, 9am-3pm camp experience
- Learning from the educational leaders of STEM Center USA
- Curriculum that emphasizes the engineering design process
- Great student to staff ratios for extra attention during lessons
- View More Details ⟩
Camp Coaches
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Co-Founders STEM Center USA Melissa & Lavanya Jawaharlal
STEM Center USA was founded by sisters Melissa and Lavanya Jawaharlal with a mission to share their love for tinkering and creating. After graduating with degrees in Mechanical Engineering from USC and UC Berkeley, respectively, they focused their attention on exciting the next generation of STEM leaders through hands-on, experiential learning. Using their technical background and love for education, they merged their two passions to create STEM Centers in Claremont and Rancho Cucamonga.
Camp Details
Campers will arrive between 8:45-9:00am and have some free time for games and socializing. Learning with technology is broken up with outdoor field games or campus fun! The whole camp gets to eat in the UCSD dining hall, which features all-you-care-to-eat service with so many options. Finally, each day we change gears by getting another hands project. These Mini STEM activity topics could include hands-on electronics and circuit making, crafty maker projects, robotics, hands-on math take-home creations, and more! This lets us work different parts of our brain and see if there are other topics that catch a camper's fascination.
- 2023 Dates: July 17 - Aug 4
- Ages: 8-14
- Meals: Lunch from campus dining included
- Times: Monday to Friday, 9:00am-3:00pm
- Cost: $645
Session I: July 17-21
Robotics with the Take Home mBot (rising 3th - 8th graders)
Session II: July 24-28
Discover Robotics with EV3 (rising 3rd - 7th graders)
Coding in Lua & Game Design with Roblox (rising 5th - 8th graders)
Session III: July 31-Aug 4
Game Design and Virtual Reality (rising 4th - 8th graders)
UCSD COVID Policy:
In 2023, UCSD is not requiring vaccination for COVID-19.
YOUR PRE-CAMP CHECKLIST:
To view your customer account, complete your mandatory forms, pay balance dues, and review important camp information, visit Pre-Camp Checklist.
All necessary camp information is on this page. If there are any imperative changes prior to camp start, registered campers will be notified via email and this webpage will be updated!
CHECKLIST OF THINGS TO BRING:
Below is a suggested list of clothes and personal items. US Sports Camps is NOT responsible for lost or stolen articles or money.
- Comfortable clothing for learning and outdoor play
- Water bottle and a snack
- Small bag/backpack to keep personal items organized
MEDICAL PROTOCOL:
Camps have an on-site Director to help with illness or injury. In case of an emergency, campers will be transported to the nearest hospital.
COMPANY POLICIES:
Please review information regarding our cancellation policy and all other company policies.
US SPORTS CAMPS FAQ:
For general questions about our camps please see our FAQ page.
FULL COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
Click the orange button for more details
Show Less See More Camp DetailsRobotics with mBot (3th - 8th)
The mBot is the perfect robot for beginners, as it makes learning robot programming simple and fun! With a screwdriver and step by step instructions, students can build a robot from scratch and experience the joys of hands-on creation. Throughout camp, students will learn about a variety of robotic machinery and electronic parts including distance and color sensors. By completing various challenges with their robots, students will also gain expertise with block-based graphical programming. Best of all, students get to take home their mBots at the end of camp to continue developing their logical thinking and design skills!
Coding & Game Design with Scratch (3rd - 6th)
Love to game? Interested in making your own ideas come to life? Let’s take your skills to the next level and by designing and making your own games! Learn the basics of game design by coding in Scratch to design computer/web-based games that involve keyboard interactions, gravity manipulation, and beginning to intermediate coding skills! Games include: A Dodging Game, Platform Jumping, Maze Runner, Story Game, and an interactive quiz show. Scratch is a limitless interface. This camp welcomes new users as well as those with some experience. Campers will each create their own games as well as present their final projects to the rest of their camp.
Coding in Lua and Game Design with Roblox Studio (5th - 8th)
Roblox is the largest social platform that allows students to create and play in immersive 3D worlds. With over 29 million user-generated online games, the platform has a massive outreach to students all over the world. More and more kids are excited to play games and try out all the Roblox features. Rather than a random series of games, this camp will help guide and engage students in the world of game development. Using the Lua coding language, students will: learn basic programming commands, create 3D worlds, expand characters/worlds using Lua functions, create custom actions and conditions, learn programming concepts like loops, conditionals, arrays, and inheritance, understand and execute proper privacy settings, and understand and execute proper multi-player settings. This camp is designed for beginner and some intermediate users of Roblox. Students will spend the week getting familiar with the environment, dragging-and-dropping code to create actions, and then customizing it with Lua. Students will complete the week with multiple games that they can take home!
Discover Robotics with EV3 (3rd - 7th)
Our most popular camp! Discover Robotics is a cornerstone of STEM Center USA's camps. This introductory camp is designed for students interested in learning more about robotics! Campers will build and program their robots in this hands-on, high-energy class while learning about various machine elements, sensors, motors, and programming through our learn-by-doing process. Students will complete a variety of missions incorporating usage of their different sensors (such as ultrasonic, color and touch). Students will use a graphical programming interface to autonomously control their creations and learn the basics of programming logic. Robots will be programmed to detect various colors, avoid obstacle, retrieve cargo, and more. On the final day of camp, students will participate in a culminating an exhilarating Sumo Battling Challenge. The Sumo Challenge is a high-energy event where students "battle" their robots in ring and show off their building designs and programming skills!
Building & Coding with Spike (3rd - 6th)
Students will create fun robots filled with personality using the Lego robotics Spike platform. Students will learn foundational technology terms, how various engineering mechanisms work, and build a series of robots that they will program and bring to life! This camp will encourage creative design, critical thinking, and problem solving skills as s tudents build projects such as a dancing robot, space rover, and a guitarist!
Game Design and Virtual Reality (4th - 8th)
Step into a new dimension by creating your own virtual reality! Discover, explore, design, and experience your own 3D creations in VR. Students will go through an interactive design process where they will literally breathe life into their environments through CoSpaces and block code. Every character will be programmed to move, fly, jump, or do whatever you can imagine! Code your 3D worlds and then experience it on a Google VR headset (provided to each student to take-home). Projects include a Dream House, Animal Oasis, Escape Room, Maze Game, and Parkour.
Sample Daily Schedule
- 8:45 Meet and Greet
- 9:00 Course Learning
- 10:30 Outdoor Break or Activity
- 11:00 Course Learning
- 12:00 Lunch in the UCSD Dining Facilities
- 1:00 Afternoon STEM Activity
- 2:00 Outdoor Break
- 2:30 Course Learning
- 3:00 Pick Up
Our summer camp at UCSD balances outdoor play and essential STEM skill development. At UCSD, sculptures and famous modern architecture can be found throughout campus. STEM Camp students enjoy the moderate, perfect summer weather and inspiring university setting. The UCSD campus is conveniently located minutes from downtown San Diego and North County suburbs. Let's go Tritons!
(Event is not sponsored or endorsed by The Regents of the University of California. Photo credit: Oleg Shpyrko - Flickr, CC BY 2.0, Link)
Camp Questions & Answers
What is your cancellation policy?
Cancellations, for any reason, received at least one week before camp start date, will result in a camp VOUCHER for all tuition fees paid, valid through the following calendar year. Your VOUCHER is transferable to any family member and may be used for any program in partnership with US Sports Camps. Cash refunds will be given only with the purchase of Cancellation Protection (terms at check-out).
Those who cancel their camp session within six (6) days of the camp start date will receive a camp VOUCHER for 50% of the camp tuition. Individuals who DO NOT attend their registered session (no-shows) will forfeit their full tuition payment.
Do I need to bring any computer or iPad?
The camp will provide hardware necessary for all classes. Only a few specific classes will ask a camper to bring a laptop from home on which they will do course learning. This will be in the class description.
Who are your staff for STEM camps?
Camp is led by a trained educator with plenty of experience in the administration of a team and supervision of students. Each class will have a Lead Instructor that is trained in the curriculum. There may be additional Assistant Instructors or Interns to support a Lead Instructor and provide our desired teaching ratio. These assistants and interns are at least rising High School Seniors.
Camp Reviews
Overall Average Rating Stars
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July 18, 2022: For my kids, it was being on a college campus and experiencing the college atmosphere and dining. They also enjoyed learning coding and creating in Minecraft.
— Anonymous
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August 3, 2023: It was very well organized, the camp leaders were excellent and knowledgeable, the materials/equipment were very good.
— Anonymous
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August 4, 2023: Amelia really enjoyed making new friends. She enjoyed the VR headset with her world that she coded.
— Anonymous
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July 25, 2023: My son loved it. He loved building a robot that he got to keep. He loved the buffet as well.
— Anonymous
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August 7, 2023: My son really enjoyed being at the UCSD campus and had a great experience during the week.
— Anonymous
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August 3, 2023: I loved creating my own map with different scripts and models
— Anonymous
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She gained confidence in her game
— Anonymous
STEM Center USA Summer Camp to be held at UC San Diego
/media/images/1280px-revelle_plaza_looking_south.jpgSan Diego, California 92110
SECURE YOUR SPOT – CAMPS SELL OUT!
Last year over 650 Sports Camps sold out, leaving 7,000+ campers on the waitlist. Due to high demand, early registration for our first-come-first-serve camps is strongly recommended.
Camp Dates & Prices
This program has concluded for the season.
Please Join our Priority List to be notified when this program is available for registration.