When Megan McCormick heard that she was accepted into the U.S. Naval Academy’s Summer STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) program, she was expecting a nerd-fest.

McCormick would head to Annapolis, MD from June 17-21 for an intensive program in the STEM field, or as the USNA refers to it, “the pathway to our future.”  The program, which is held at the USNA’s college campus, is offered to students entering 8th through 11th grade.  A total of 250 kids from all over the country were accepted out of the thousands who applied, so the application process was very selective.

“They wanted to know your grades all the way back from eighth grade, how strenuous your classes were, sports, extracurricular activities, and if you were a captain or leader of any of the teams,” McCormick said.

Although she would never go around bragging about herself, McCormick has participated in an impressive amount of athletics, including golf, swimming, basketball and lacrosse.  She was also the captain of her basketball team – it’s no surprise she was one of the selected applicants.

The main objective of the program is simple: to encourage rising 8th through 11th graders to pursue a course of study in engineering and technology throughout their high school and college careers.  To achieve this goal, the STEM program exposes students to different aspects of the STEM field and helps them to understand how the knowledge of this field is being put to use to help support the country’s national defense needs.

McCormick’s father works at Scott Airforce Base and was in the Air Force himself.  He is the one who introduced McCormick to the program in the first place.

McCormick has always had an interest in math and science, and she originally thought she would pursue a career somewhere in the field of medicine.  Due to the fact that it seemed like something that was more for the engineering type, she was somewhat against the idea of attending the program at first, but is more than happy that she ended up going.

“It sounded really interesting and I didn’t really have much going on this summer.  I do like science, technology and math…the Naval Academy has access to a lot of good resources.”

Before the program commenced, McCormick was looking forward to meeting the people and getting the full experience of the college campus through her first official college visit.

The main thing that made her nervous in terms of what to expect of the program was the fact that it was held at a military academy.

McCormick said that she thought the camp was going to consist of a lot of rigorous activity (e.g. running early in the morning and doing a lot of drills), but she said in that sense the program was in no way what she had expected.

The five-day experience offered the students sessions in many different areas of STEM fields.  The camp offered various lectures including informational sessions on cyber security, robotics and bio-terrorism.

In McCormick’s opinion, the most interesting session was the one on bio-terrorism.  Although the class was only an hour long, it did an excellent job of illustrating the impressive speed at which infectious diseases can spread from one organism to another.

The students were able to have a near-college experience by staying in the USNA freshmen dorms with one roommate.  Apparently the food exceeded expectations, as did the elegance of the dorms.

One of McCormick’s favorite experiences from the camp was an activity in which the students, along with one partner of their choice, were challenged to use a limited number of materials to construct the best possible object they could in a certain category.  Categories included a car powered by rubber bands, a catapult powered by rubber bands, a combination of a catapult and a car, or a maze for a hex bug.  The competitions were fun and gave the students yet another chance to build up meaningful relationships with their new friends as well as to spark their creativity through a hands-on activity.

Another cool thing about the summer camp was that the counselors were actual students who currently attend the naval academy.  This gave the student campers the opportunity to interact with current college students, see how they felt about the school, ask them what classes the school offers and take advice about life after high school.

After all of that intellectual stimulation, breaks were a necessity at the summer camp.  Students would participate in soccer, ultimate frisbee, tag football, running and other sports activities in their free time in order to interact with people they might not have had the opportunity to interact with before.  Not to mention, the camp was split up into different colored squadrons consisting of approximately thirty people each, and once the kids were split up, there was not much of a chance to interact with another squadron aside from the sports activities that took place.

Intensive programs that focus in one area are definitely not for everyone, but if you are considering going into a certain field, it’s a great way to decide where in that field you’d like to see yourself working and if you’re interested in having a career in that particular field at all.

After attending the summer program, McCormick is having second thoughts about what she wants her career to be.  A career in engineering, math or science definitely stands out to her as it did before, but she has now narrowed down her career opportunities to somewhere in the field of engineering as opposed to somewhere in the field of medicine.

The students who attended the camp had the opportunity to learn the way one might learn inside of a classroom, but it was a unique experience to be so far away from home and with kids who share many of the same passions and interests.  Although certain people might have enjoyed some of the subtopics more than others, the exposure as well as the ability to meet other people who have a plan is really what mattered most.

Speaking of having a plan, although McCormick was one of the few students who felt undecided about her future career, many of the campers were certain of what they wanted to be.  You could find a future astrophysicist or submarine pilot in every direction you looked.

When it comes to the kids who participated in the program, they were diverse but generally very easy to get along with, very competitive and proud of what they knew.  Surprisingly, not all of the kids were huge “science nerds” – in fact, many of the applicants were attractive to the admissions office primarily as a result of their skills in sports or leadership inside and outside of their schools.

Although the USNA’s Summer STEM Program has by no means inspired McCormick to be an astrophysicist, she had nothing less than an excellent experience going on her first college visit, meeting a bunch of friendly kids who also hold interest in her field of choice, and gaining knowledge of and exposure to the field we call STEM.